Breathe Slow
by Jaime.Starr
Summary: Victoria Owen is assigned to be Bruce Wayne's assistant. Would she ever fall for playboy billionaire? What would happen when she discovers a different side of Bruce Wayne? Bruce/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, explicit language and violence.  
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**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.1  
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Bruce leaned back as another tedious chart explaining the profit Wayne Enterprises made so far this year showed up on the flat screen. The spacious conference room was filled with 13 heads of departments at the Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox and Bruce himself. Bruce silently sat at the back of the conference room and tried to focus on the graph, but he wasn't mesmerized by his company's sudden growth. Soon, his eyes became blurry and he lost focus as usual as in his other meetings.

Lucius pressed the _'off'_ button on the projector and took a sip of water from his glass. "Now, I would like each of the departments to represent their sales chart for this term and I would like to-"

"Excuse me sir, I apologize for interrupting." _Victoria Owen_, a 27 year old assistant wearing a beige high waist skirt and a white blouse with her brown hair neatly tied back walked towards Lucius rather in a hurry with a black plastic folder in her hand. Lucius put on his glasses nodded his head slowly.

"But, I would like to let you know that Mr Wood isn't present at this meeting today because he's very ill. And here's the folder containing his department, bio-technology's sales chart." Victoria handed Lucius the folder and walked past everyone. Bruce smirked as she passed him by which made her blush tiny bit.

-

When the meeting ended and everyone exited the room, Lucius went up to Bruce who was looking out the window, contemplating deeply.

"I assume that this head of department meeting didn't entertain you at all today." Lucius said as he tapped Bruce's shoulder.

"Lucius, you do know very well that I'm not that into those-"

"And, I do know very well that you were looking right at Ms Owen when she came in. She's stunning, smart, hard-working and what else would you expect? And, it seemed to me that you were thinking about her during the whole meeting."

"Lucius, I was not. Who is she anyways? I've never seen her around." His curiosity often drove him insane.

"Miss Owen? Oh, she used to work for Mr Wood down at the department of bio-technology." Lucius explained, but it was evident that he wanted to hear more about her.

"And, where does she work now?" Lucius turned around and looked at the door.

"I think she can tell you." Victoria stood by the door, waiting for their conversation to be over. She walked in as Lucius waved at her.

"Nice to meet you in person, Mr Wayne. I don't know if Mr Fox already told you, but I'll be your new secretary." She held out her hand and shook his hands firmly.

"It's my pleasure. So, what did you actually do when you were working for the department of bio-technology?" His eyes were glued onto her rosy cheeks and pink lips. It was simply, inevitable.

"I was in charge of marketing all the products." Victoria ran her fingers through her sleek hair and bit her bottom lip.

"I see. But, it's odd that I've never seen you around."

"That's because I travel a lot to various countries in order to market our products. I barely get to stay here and that's why I decided to change my position at the enterprises." Lucius nodded as if he already knew about this.

"I apologize for not being able to acknowledge my employee. Perhaps we can out for dinner tonight, maybe? So we can get to know each other more since we'll be seeing each other quite a lot."

"Thank you for your offer, but I already have a dinner date tonight with my old friend. Maybe next time." Victoria detected a minor flirtation between her and Bruce, which made her feel quite uncomfortable. But, considering his notorious scandals with numerous models and actresses, Victoria thought he was just being _'cordial'_ or friendly.

"Maybe next time." She smiled and walked away from Bruce and Lucius.

"Victoria-" She turned around as soon as she heard her name.

"Yes, Mr Wayne?" She waited patiently for him to say something else.

"Don't let me down. I'm not kidding about the dinner."

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**AN: I'm sorry if it wasn't good enough for some people but I tried and the second chapter is going to be much longer than this one..I promise!**

**And this story happens sort of during the dark knight (I guess) and there will be bunch of characters coming in later on such as Rachel, Harvey and the Joker. **

**Don't forget to review and subscribe!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters existing in this story. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, explicit language and violence. _

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**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.2_

-

"I'm so sorry for being late." Harvey stood up from his chair and kissed his old friend, Victoria's cheek. _Harvey Dent_, the new district attorney for Gotham City glanced at his Mont Blanc watch and smiled at her.

"It's all right. You're only 24 minutes late." Victoria took out her Blackberry and smacked her forehead slightly.

"Harvey, you're making me feel bad." She took a sip from her wineglass and passed her light brown trench coat to the waitress. "Besides making me feel guilty, how's work _Mr Dent?"_

Every time she called him by his last name, he got this weird feeling that made her look like a woman, not his childhood friend. "The things are getting quite hectic down at the office. I had to deal with a few mobs including Maroni today. It surly was pain in the butt."

"Well, you're a big guy. I'm sure you can handle everything." She said.

"Victoria, since you're late, I've already ordered for both of us. Spinach tortellini?" Harvey raised his brow and took a sip from his glass and poured some more into Victoria's glass.

"You know me too well Harvey." She unfolded the napkin and placed it onto her thighs, covering up her bare legs.

"So, how's your work? Didn't you tell me that you were going to quit your job?"

"Yeah, I talked to my boss, Mr Fox about the issue and he placed me as Bruce Wayne's secretary." As soon as she mentioned his name, Harvey almost chocked himself.

"What? No, I thought you were…quitting, not changing your position." His eyes were flooded with disappointment and jealousy.

"What's wrong with it?" She observed him as he lowered his head.

"Well, first of all, he's an infamous womanizer-"

"I do know that. This whole city knows that he sleeps with all the models in town. But, I don't think he's that bad. I mean, I had a conversation with him this afternoon and he seemed...sweet."

"Sweet? Are you kidding me? And, he's an idiot who spends bunch of money on-"

"Fast cars, fancy dates and priceless suits." A familiar male voice interrupted Victoria and Harvey. Victoria turned around and saw Bruce wearing another Hugo Boss suit and a woman who had bleached blond hair, was at least six feet tall and seemed like his date .

"Mr Wayne? I'm sorry if we were talking behind…your back." Victoria apologized as it was lucid that he heard them talking.

"No, it's fine. A lot of people do that. Besides, it's partially my fault since I was listening to your conversation." Bruce smiled and turned his head towards Harvey.

"Oh, this is my friend, Harvey Dent." Bruce and Harvey exchanged looks and shook each other's hands firmly.

"I've heard a lot about you on TV. So, you're the new DA."

"Yes, I am." Harvey held Victoria's soft hand which made them almost look like a couple.

"Then, I would like to introduce this lovely lady here beside me, Katrina. She works for Victoria's Secret."

"Oh, now I see. I always pass by a colossal poster of her wearing a pink bra every time I pass by that store." Victoria kept an opaque smile on her face, trying not to sound too edgy.

"Do you mind if we join you guys for supper? Or would we be interrupting your _date_?" Harvey's blue eyes widened, which meant a definite _'NO'_, but Victoria ignored his opinion for once.

"Sure, but I don't know if we can put two tables together this time." Victoria looked around the overbooked restaurant.

"Oh, they should. I own this place." He waved at the waiter and smirked at Harvey.

-

"Bruce, can you cut the lobster for me? I don't want to smell like fish after cutting it." Katrina moved her sauteed lobster glazed in garlic butter closer to Bruce. He silently smiled and took her plate.

"So, Katrina. I guess you're visiting Gotham, right?" Victoria stopped eating her tortellini and watched Katrina as she waited for her lobster to be ready.

"If you say so. I'm staying here for about a month and Bruce kindly suggested that I should be staying at his penthouse instead of hotel. Apparently, this city is filled with rapists and mobs who can threat my career and my life."

"That's nice. I hope-"

"Bruce, you should really tell the chef that there's too much butter on this lobster. There's too much trans fat in butter and that will make me add more pounds." Katrina cut her off and began to complain. She took a bite of her succulent lobster and spat it out into her napkin right away.

"Is there anything wrong?" Harvey asked.

"Ah, duh, can't you tell? This lobster isn't juicy enough. It feels like I'm chewing on a hard cardboard or something." She complained. Bruce waved at the waiter and made him take her plate.

"Katrina, they'll get you another one. It will only take about five minutes." Bruce poured more wine into her glass.

"Maybe you shouldn't eat tonight if you're going to complain." Victoria got up and headed to the entrance.

"Excuse me," Harvey got up as well and followed her. Katrina shrugged her shoulders and looked at Bruce innocently.

"People here are so sensitive, Bruce."

-

"Victoria, can you at least wait up?" Harvey grabbed her wrist as she exited.

"Harvey, you're right about him. I was wrong, you win." Victoria opened the door to a cab parked by the restaurant.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Harvey held the door open.

"Of course I am. Just a bit disappointed."

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**A/N: Special thanks goes to _DJHot-icE, Anakin'sQueen, CastielGirl, hotredhead and kmcracerx_ for the reviews/subscriptions. Hope this chap was better. There will be more action/drama in the next ones. **

**Cheers and don't forget the reviews (I love reading them.) **


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence. _

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**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.3_

-

It was that inevitable, irritating noise. The noise that her cordial next door neighbor, Susan made pretty much every morning by slamming the door and locking up her door while her keys made bothersome sound. It always pinched her ears and opened up her sleepy hazelnut brown eyes usually around 6 o'clock in the morning. _'I should be moving soon. Why the hell does she have to slam her goddamn door so loud?'_ She murmured those words to herself and dragged herself to the bathroom. To be honest, her apartment wasn't located in the best or safest part of city. It was situated just a block before the narrows which was still dangerous, where a few money-deprived teenagers sold their bodies every night, notorious mobs traded illegal drugs and homeless wandered around desperately. It was just like the Upper and Lower East side of New York City; where lucid division of rich and poor existed. Other than its location, her flat was on the second floor of the newly built building which was just perfect considering the fact that she only had to climb a few steps. She barely used the elevator since she was claustrophobic. Going into an elevator often packed with complete strangers or even her close neighbors chocked her severely. It was on the second floor, facing right at the River. Even though there was only one bedroom and one bathroom, it didn't depress her or made her feel uncomfortable. It was her only home, where she felt welcomed.

When the bathtub was filled with scorching water, she soaked her left toe to see if it wasn't too hot. She moaned as warm water encompassed her soar foot from wearing red five inch heels for more than nine hours yesterday. Her breath still had that fruity smell of red wine and her stomach was still upset. She shut her eyes and uncontrollably, fell deep into the tub.

After getting out of the bathtub, it was not even 7 o'clock. _'Oh great…I only have to be there at 9. Whatever, there's nothing wrong being just a tiny bit early.' _ She was still naked and a bit drenched in warm water, going through her appropriate work attire for today. She usually preferred to wear high waist skirts which showed off her voluminous curves, tiny waist and slim legs. She picked up a grey, subtle pencil skirt and chose a navy blue blouse which added great color and brightened up her skin color. She finally picked up a pair of heels which were essential in order to make her look a bit taller. _'This is going to be an eventful day.'_

-

She walked in the Wayne Enterprises while her black heels hammered the beige granite floor. She pressed the silver button with a little arrow pointing up engraved to it. Victoria was rather glad that she was an hour early because there was absolutely nobody around at that time. When the door opened, the cold breeze coming out from the air conditioner attached on the sides of the elevator welcomed her. Although she had an elevator to herself, her hands were still shaky which made it slightly difficult to press her floor button. The door closed and she could feel the lever pulling up her weight to the thirtieth floor.

When the elevator door opened, she was quite astonished by all the translucent glass doors and walls surrounding the floor. She spotted a desk made out of wood some sort of expensive plastic. She went closer to the desk and found a Toshiba laptop, two telephones with bunch of numbers and codes on them and a little green lamp on it. Everything looked so flawless and neat. Even the garbage can was lined up perfectly next to the desk.

"Do you like it?" She quickly turned around as soon as she heard a male voice whisper into her right ear. He was standing so close behind her that when she turned around, her pointy nose touched his chin.

"Holy shit-" She slightly pushed him away and took a deep breath. "Don't you ever do that again. And pardon for my language if you're offended." Victoria put down her red purse on her new chair and took off her white blazer.

"You're cute when you're scared." Bruce began to laugh almost like an naive kid. Victoria remained calm and didn't laugh.

"I believe that there is a regulation saying that there should be no flirtation between employees here at the enterprises, Mr Wayne." Bruce raised his brow and took off his black leather jacket.

"Victoria, that wasn't a flirt. Please, call me Bruce. It feels and sounds weird every time you call me by my last name. It makes me feel like an old fart." Victoria began to burst out laughing when he portrayed himself as an _'old fart'_. "By the way, why are you so early? You're only supposed to be here by 9."

"I got up early this morning. Well, why are you up so early? Mr Fox has informed me that you never come to the enterprises unless you have a meeting. Today's meeting's only scheduled at 11. Also, you're not wearing a suit." She leaned against the desk which gave her butt great support. Bruce watched her carefully and grinned without saying a word.

"Come on, I have to show you something." He grabbed her gelid hand and led her to his spacious office. She was absolutely lost and did not know what he was going to show her or even do to her. She was regretting for leaving her pepper spray in her purse.

"Mr Wayne-"

"It's Bruce. Do you trust me?" She just stared at his brown eyes. Why do guys always ask that question? Why do they have to know if girls _trust_ them?

"Depends on what you mean. But, not right now." Bruce smiled and pressed on the bookshelf he had right behind his desk. He placed his finger on a spot for a few seconds and pressed four digit number code. When the code was inserted, the two shelves separated and a tiny elevator showed up which seemed so small that it could only fit in one person.

"I can't go into that elevator. I'm claustrophobic. You might even have to take me to the emergency room or-" Before she was done explaining her case, he pushed her gently into the elevator and closed the door. The elevator was way smaller than a public bathroom stall.

"If you can't breathe, just hold on to me. I need you to trust me." He wrapped his arms around her waist like a guardian angel. Her cheeks were heating up like boiling water and ironically, she was able to breathe normally.

"It's going to be hot down there." He winked at her as the door opened and again, she didn't know what he meant. As soon as the door opened, she was nearly chocked by the sweltering temperature and high humidity of the place. It nearly felt like she was passing by a hot spring and she began to melt like ice cream.

"You can take off your clothes if you'd like." Victoria watched him take his white v-neck shirt off. It was apparent that he's been doing rigorous exercises for a very long time. She just couldn't get her eyes off of his chest.

"I wonder why they call you the billionaire playboy." Her sardonic tone rather made him laugh. Victoria sighed and only took her navy blue blouse off. She had a white tank top underneath, but it showed enough cleavage that he could see a drop of sweat falling down between her breasts.

"And don't you ever stare at my chest." She pointed her index finger at him and walked around the place.

"Oh, I can't promise that." He watched Victoria as she looked around the room. She seemed disappointed for not being able to find anything intriguing.

"All right, this isn't a spa. Or my office. Or your mansion." She walked closer to him and looked right at him. "So, what is this place?" Bruce silently walked past her and pressed a red button on the wall. The white blinds went up as the button was pressed. It revealed the transparent windows and Victoria found a huge yellow pot containing dark brown liquid.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bruce nodded as she eyes widened.

"I never knew that the Wayne Enterprises manufactured chocolate." Her voice got louder and she placed her wet palms on the window.

"Well, it's rather my private business. I have to keep this room hot and humid in order to make best quality chocolates."

"I would never imagine that billionaire playboy makes chocolates when he has nothing to do." She sighed and looked at him pitifully.

"Girls love chocolates. You know what they also love?" He took two steps towards her, bent down and whispered with his sweet, seductive voice. "Chocolate bath." Victoria frowned as she heard him say _'chocolate bath'_. It was the most exotic thing she has ever heard for years.

"I don't think I'm so into that." She tapped his built shoulder and headed to the elevator. She grabbed her slightly wet blouse and pressed the button. Bruce put on his shirt as well and stood next to her.

"Maybe next time I can take you to the department of _'Applied Sciences'_. It's in the basement and the only people allowed to go in there are Lucius and I. You'll love it." As the elevator opened she closed her eyes and walked in as if she was entering another spacious room. Bruce got in and pressed a button.

"I don't think I can trust you with that."

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**A/N: This was absolutely LONGER and I think this one is the best chapter so far (it's only my opinion) just because it`s more descriptive and graphic (I find). **

**I've posted some pictures of Victoria on my PROFILE and I picture _Kate Beckinsale_ as her (I think she`s a great match for Christian Bale). **

**Specials thanks goes to DJHot-icE, Edward Cullen`s Girl, AvalonVampiress. Lady Prada and everyone who viewed!**

**Review and Subscribe everybody!!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence. _

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**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter 4._

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As soon as Alfred heard the kettle boil, he rushed to the kitchen and poured the sizzling water cautiously into a beige mug. He dropped an Earl Grey teabag and placed it on a black bamboo tray with a piece of coffeecake on the side. When he went to the living room, he spotted Bruce reading his daily newspaper.

"I thought you were staying at the penthouse today, Master Wayne. You weren't here this morning." Alfred placed the tray on the coffee table and stood still right beside him. Bruce folded the paper in half and tried to gulp down the torrid tea as if it was cold beer.

"Ah, this is hot-" He stuck out his tongue like a puppy and frowned.

"Of course it is, sir. May I ask where you were this morning sir?"

"I was at my office this morning." Alfred definitely thought it was ironic to hear that he went to his office, especially early in the morning, knowing Bruce Wayne damn well. He barely went up to the enterprises unless he was told to attend a meeting or some sort.

"Let me take a guess. Did you leave early this morning to see Miss Owen? The new secretary who you've told me about?" Bruce restrained himself from smiling, but he couldn't lie to Alfred.

"I just wanted to know my employee better. Oh, I showed her my secret chocolate factory, and-" Alfred lowered his head to hear the story. "I don't think it really worked on her." Bruce definitely seemed emphatically disappointed, and continued. "I thought all the girls love chocolates. And chocolate bath."

"I'm pretty sure Miss Owen isn't a _girl._ She's a fine lady, Master Wayne. Besides, even to me, chocolate bath sounds quite bizarre." Alfred said and handed him a yellow folder.

"What is this?" Bruce opened the folder and skimmed through the first page. _'Victoria Owen…28 years old…Gotham native…single...'_

"If you'd like to get to know her better, I think you should know more about her before taking her to some wacky places. I've prepared her profile and maybe you should take a look at it." Alfred made his way back to his room, and turned around. "Perhaps, you should take her out on a ferryboat or send her some flowers. It says that she likes roses."

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Victoria threw her purse on her couch and took off her ragging heels. She took off her navy blue blouse, which was still drenched in sweat and smelt like cheap perfume. After throwing away all her clothes onto the beige carpet, she opened her freezer, took out a pepperoni pizza pocket and put it in the microwave. After preparing her dinner, she pressed the button on her phone to check if she had any messages. A robotic, female voice said, _'You have one message from Kayla.'_

"_Victoria, it's me, Kayla. How was work? How does it feel like to work for Prince of Gotham? Call me back as soon as possible and tell me everything before I go insane!'_

'_Right. Kayla.' _She dialed her number and waited until Kayla answered.

"Hello? Victoria?" Kayla said.

"Yeah, it's me-"

"Oh my gosh, why haven't you called me all day? I was worried." Victoria grabbed her pizza pocket from the microwave and took a small bite of it.

"I was at work. I don't have time to call my best friend because I'm so occupied with other stuff,"

"Bullshit. I bet that you were getting busy with Bruce Wayne."

"Ew, Kayla. I don't _'get busy'_ with my employer no matter how attractive he is." She opened her fridge and let out a small sigh. She only had a couple bottles of vodka, a bottle of water and a carton of soymilk.

"How is that _'ew'_ anyways? Well, you're boring. Can't you just forget the fact that he's your boss for once and have some fun? Just flirt a bit or something-"

"Kayla, he's not even my type. He's just filthy rich, excessively bored, loves any creature with long legs and enormous breasts and-"

"And very sexy. Come on, you got to admit that."

"Is this the reason why you called me? To make me admit that he's damn sexy?" Kayla's blasting voice began ached Victoria's ear.

"Oh for fuck's sake Victoria. Don't deny it. By the way, Harvey called me a thousand times this morning asking about you."

"Shit, I forgot to give him my new number. What did he say?"

"He just wanted to say hi I guess. And he mentioned that…the fanatic clown is out on the streets. Apparently, he has been hiring people to join his _gang_ and it's getting bigger everyday. He wanted me to tell you to be careful since you're living so close to the narrows. You could even be kidnapped." Victoria's voice shivered and her heart accelerated faster than a racing car.

"The fanatic clown? Who is he?"

"Oh you haven't seen the news yet? That crazy clown I'm talking about calls himself the Joker. Ostensibly, he has this guy named Paul Morgan who lives near the narrows as hostage and I think he's planning to kill Paul Morgan. But, don't worry too much about it. It's just a rumor going around. Even if it's true, Lt. Gordon and his cops are working very hard on this case."

"Thanks a lot for the information. Now I should bring my pepper spray everywhere I go." Victoria reached out for her purse and took out the empty pepper spray bottle.

"Don't thank me, I'm just the deliverer. Maybe you should stay with me for a while. Or even with Harvey. Victoria, we're truly concerned. I'm sure Harvey doesn't want to lose you to that clown."

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be so dependent on Harvey or you. I can take care of myself. But,-" Before she could finish the sentence, she heard the doorbell ring.

"What's wrong Victoria?" Kayla asked.

"Someone's at the door for me. Just hold on."

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**A/N: This chapter took me a very, very long time to write…I don't know why but I hope it was good. **

**Please review; it will make my day much better since the exams are coming up very soon. **

**Again, thanks to the reviewers and subscribers!!**

**P.S. Check out my profile if you want to see how I picture Victoria.  
**

**Hugs,**

**Jaime  
**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence. _

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**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter 4._

-

Victoria still had the phone in her hand when she turned the doorknob. When she looked up, there stood a scraggy, fairly young looking man with dirty blond hair, wearing faded ripped jeans, cheap gray sweater which had red ketchup stains everywhere. He didn't look up, or started talking, and was only focused on his Sony CD player. She could hear the loud heavy metal music, possibly Guns N' Roses, blasting through the black headphones he was wearing. Victoria took his headphones off and he stared right at her, looking huffy.

"You Victoria Owen?" He took a piece of watermelon bubblegum out from his left pocket and started to chew it just the way Victoria's old pony chewed his apples.

"Yes, I am. Do you need something?" As soon as she said that, he picked up something that was sitting next to him and showed her a pink box with pastel colored ribbons. He walked into her apartment without asking for permission, and placed the box on the kitchen counter.

"What the hell are you doing? Get out!" She pushed him away, but no matter how skinny he was, he easily pushed her and forced her to sit on a chair. He took out a little notepad and handed her a pen.

"Pretty Miss Owen, I need you to sign here." She glared at him and signed the paper.

"That was quite rude, don't you think? I've never seen a delivery man barge into my place without asking." She gave him a filthy look and turned her head to the box. She was quite curious what was in that enormous box.

"My apologies-"

"Do you need anything else?" He headed towards the elevator and turned around.

"Maybe your number? I'm a quite nice guy you know-" He began to laugh ceaselessly and put his oversize headphones on. Victoria rolled her eyes and shut the door loudly, just like her neighbor.

-

"Hello? Victoria, are you still there?" Victoria forgot that Kayla was still on the phone, waiting for a response.

"Shit, I'm so sorry-"

"You scare me too much! I thought you got hurt or something. Is everything fine?" Victoria began to undo all the ribbons surrounding the box, with her left hand holding the phone securely.

"Um, don't worry, everything's fine. I got this gigantic parcel and I'm trying to open it." The ribbons were tangled and tied up so tightly that she had to grab her scissors and cut the ribbons.

"Who is it from?" Victoria finally opened the box and the dulcet smell of red roses pleased her olfactory glands and made her smile.

"I'm not sure, but someone sent me…roses. A lot of red roses." She lifted up the rose bouquet from the box and began to search a vase for it.

"Roses? Who sent them? Is there a card or a memo or a love letter?" Victoria left the roses on the counter and went back to the box. She found a small piece of red paper, folded in half.

"Yeah, I guess I did. It says…_'Hope theses roses will make you feel better…From Mr Anonymous.'_"

"Someone's got a little crush on you! And, that is so adorable. Whoever sent you those roses must know how to seduce a woman. And especially, a hardcore woman like you." Kayla's voice got louder with excitement. Victoria found a transparent glass vase, poured some water in and gently socked the bouquet.

-

_**Paul Morgan, an inculpable 34 year old architect kidnapped by the fanatic clown**_

_Jason Wright_

_Last Sunday around 9:00 PM, a 34 year old man who works at the Kruger Inc. as an executive architect went missing all of a sudden from his office at the Kruger Inc.. According to his fiancé Jeanne Lowry, Paul didn't show up for their dinner date, and after waiting over an hour, she drove to his office, and wasn't able to find him anywhere, but was able to found a Joker card on his desk. When the GCPD demanded the Kruger Inc. to check the CCTV, they spotted four armed men wearing masks dragging Morgan out of his office and injecting some kind of a drug into his neck. Jeanne and Paul's family and friends are very worried about him being the 'target' or the Joker's hostage. GCPD under Lieutenant Gordon is still searching this innocent civilian. All we could do right now is to wait patiently for Paul Morgan's return.  
_

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Harvey opened the window and let the warm breeze wash away his complex mind. He glared back at the shocking newspaper headline. He sighed as loud as he could and ran his fingers through his slightly wet hair. All of a sudden, he heard someone knock a couple times and told him to come in without looking back. When he finally turned around, he found Gordon standing about ten feet away from him holding his beige leather briefcase.

"Lt Gordon. I didn't expect to see you here." Harvey shook his hand and offered him a seat in front of his. He took the newspaper and threw it into the trashcan.

"I apologize for not making an appointment. I was rather, in a hurry you see." Gordon took a tape and a few pictures out of his bag. "Just an hour ago, we received this tape from the Joker. I think he wants us to believe that the hostage isn't going to be safe until we give him something he wants. The tape's quite disturbing but if you would like to take a look at it, go ahead." Harvey took the tape and put it aside.

"Thanks for the information. Did you find anything else about Paul Morgan? Like where he is right now?"

"We're still not sure, but in that tape, it seems like he is kept in a basement or some sort. We're still looking for him, tracking down his cellphone signal, but it's quite hard." Gordon showed him the pictures of Paul tied tightly onto the aluminum chair sent to the GCPD. Harvey frowned as he looked through the pictures. Gordon looked through his bag and handed Harvey the sealed plastic bag containing the Joker card. "And, we found another name written with invisible UV marker which was only able to be detected by the UV ray." As Harvey took the card and found out the name written on the plastic bag, he shut his eyes and buried his head into his sweaty palms.

"So, she is the new target I guess, huh?" He gave Gordon back the bag and the pictures. Gordon nodded and placed everything into his briefcase.

"Victoria Owen, 28 year old who currently works at the Wayne Enterprises. We have to prevent her from getting into this mess." Gordon observed Harvey's shocking reaction as it became more and more apparent.

"I guess she's very important to you or some sort." Harvey looked up and nodded.

"We've been friends for a very long time and I don't want to lose her." Gordon got up and pushed his chair in.

"Would you like us to send a station over to her place at night so she's safe?" Gordon turned back and stood at the same spot until Harvey opened his mouth.

"No, that wouldn't be so subtle. We really don't want to provoke anything here."

"Then, Mr Dent, I think we know a perfect vigilante who can protect her at night." He smiled and nodded his head a few times as Harvey stared right at him.

"Batman."

* * *

**A/N: I'm trying to develop a conflict and you'll get to see two different sides of out hot Bruce Wayne very soon. I watched the Terminator Salvation last week with my friends and wow. It was AWESOME!! If you haven't seen it, please go and watch it. Christian Bale looks hot as usual (but it was sort of disappointing that we see Sam Worthington MORE OFTEN THAN Christian Bale. But otherwise, it was a great action flick and Anton Yelchin did a great job as Kyle Reese and looked cute.)**

**Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW!! AND SUBSCRIBE**

**Jaime**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence. _

_

* * *

  
_

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter 6._

_-_

Victoria glanced at her baby blue computer screen and noticed it was almost 1 o'clock. Her lunch time started a few minutes before, but she wasn't quite done. Her stomach was growling in desperate need of filling lunch, but she still had to finish up several reports and make reservations for the seminars and conferences Bruce was going to attend. She had five different places in mind and the conference room flyers on her desk baffled her eyes. _'Centennial will be too expensive for an hour meeting… this one doesn't seem so bad…but it's still over a grand.' _She talked to herself and contemplated which one to choose. She grabbed another piece of dark chocolate from her bag and began to unwrap it slowly. When she looked left, she saw Bruce getting up from his leather chair, shaking hands with his fairly old and chubby business partner, Ben Johnson. She noticed his fake smile and dragged herself towards them.

"Ah, there you are! It was my pleasure to meet you Miss Owen. Wayne's a lucky guy who has such a responsible lady working for him." Johnson shook her hands gently as if he was handling a fragile wineglass. Bruce looked over and smiled as usual, but some how, he didn't seem so comfortable.

"It was my pleasure too. I hope to see you soon." Victoria still had her eyes on Ben's ruffled forehead and tried not to lose her smile. He made his way out and both of them stood still until they saw him disappear. Bruce sighed and looked at her with his charming smirk without saying a word.

"I could never imagine you were into older guys." He had both of his hands in his pocket and gave her a cordial look. Victoria raised her brown brow and crossed her arms.

"Excuse me? What even makes you say that?" She gave him a cold stare, but inside, she was laughing. Out loud.

"Well, you know, I saw some flirtation going on there. It's just part of my acute observation."

"Wow, I guess you're a penetrating observer. And I was only being polite. Plus, I'm not that into older men." She grabbed her beige blazer sitting on the couch beside her desk and walked to the stairs. Bruce followed her like her shadow.

"No wonder why you're so fit. So, you always take the stairs?"

"I guess you forgot. I always do." Secretly in her mind, she was still thinking about _Mr Anonymous_ and the red roses he sent her.

"Well, do you mind if I join you for lunch?"

"Mr Wayne, I only have thirty minutes to eat and my lunch time is almost over. I don't think it's really worth it." When they got to the fifth floor, he opened the door to the cafeteria for her.

"I guess you're a hard woman to play with. You still don't call me Bruce." She smiled at him and grabbed a tray and utensils. Bruce stood in line behind her absorbing soothing lavender scent from her wavy hair. They walked down the dessert isle together and all the other employees looked at them and whispered simultaneously. "Then, I guess I should send more roses next time before I ask you out for lunch." He kept his indifferent facial expression and waited until she turned around.

"What? You did not send me roses, did you?" She grabbed a cup of fruit salad and continued walking down, still looking surprised. Bruce shrugged and grabbed fruit salad too.

"Well, I'm not going to lie about it you know. So, should I send you more roses until I can get you to have lunch with me?" She sighed and looked at him.

"Fine." Victoria put her tray down on a table near by and took a seat. He put down his tray as well and everyone definitely confused since Bruce never ate at the cafeteria.

"So, why exactly did you send me roses?" She removed the lid and took a bite of a pineapple. He watched her eat and smiled.

"As I wrote in that card, I just wanted to make you feel better." He took a sip of his coffee and added more sugar to it.

"And why didn't you write down that it was from you?" She looked at him and leaned forward a bit.

"Because…I thought it was going to be more…romantic." As soon as he finished his last sentence, she nearly chocked on the piece of melon.

"I wonder why you're so good with girls." She tried to avoid his hazel eyes, but it seemed like she was lost in a labyrinth.

"I guess that's a compliment. Anyways, what are you doing this Saturday?" He emptied his mug and threw empty sugar packages into the cup.

"Why? Should I be working?" Victoria leaned back and tried to stretch her feet locked in her red high heels.

"Well, I'm going down to my manor this weekend and may be you should join me. It will be fun." She tried to go through her schedule for this weekend in her head, and sighed.

"I don't think I can. I was going to meet my friend at the Elwood Spa this Saturday morning."

"Oh, that will be fine. I'll pick you up." He took out his black leather Ferragamo wallet from his inside pocket and handed her his card. She looked over for a few seconds and put it in her blazer pocket. "Call me whenever you're done waxing or getting massages." He smirked.

"This isn't going to be a date or some sort, right?" She crossed her legs and looked right at him.

"Of course not." He said. Sometimes, lying was the best option out of all.

-

Harvey has been at the rooftop with Gordon for more than two hours, waiting for the Batman to show up. The bat signal scintillated from the cloudy, dim sky. Harvey looked worried and desperate with an empty mug in his hand. He tried to reach Victoria, but since she changed her number, all he could do was to wait. He looked down at the cars and lost his focus on to the shining lights, and he turned around when he heard someone open the emergency exit. He seemed disappointed to see Gordon with a cup of black coffee approaching him.

"So, I guess he's not showing up tonight." Harvey sighed and looked at Gordon. Gordon shrugged and took a small sip of sizzling coffee.

"Sometimes, he shows up unexpectedly." He continued to drink his coffee and shut his eyes, waiting for Batman to show up. Harvey shut his eyes also and listened to the sound of carbon dioxide fumes coming out from mufflers. Harvey felt black shadow coming towards them and opened his eyes.

"What's the problem here?" The Batman said with his deep, husky voice. Harvey elbowed Gordon, not so hard but strong enough to wake him up. Harvey nodded and told Gordon to explain what was going on.

"The Joker still has Paul Morgan as hostage and we've received a video tape and a few disturbing pictures of him." Harvey didn't say a single word.

"Were you able to track him down by his cellphone signal?" The Batman asked.

"No, we weren't. We've tried a few times, but it didn't seem to work. He's either in a restricted area or even underground when signals cannot be reached easily." Gordon said. Harvey finally opened his mouth to say something.

"And, there's another problem-" He took a deep breath and continued. "The Joker card found on Paul Morgan's desk had a written name of a future victim. Unfortunately, she is one of my closest friends, well she's very precious to me." Then, Harvey handed him a yellow notepad. "And I've written down her address and her personal information like her name and age. So, can you keep an eye on her or guard her at night? She's in a great jeopardy right now since she lives right by the narrows." Harvey sighed once more. When the Batman looked at her name, his pupils widened. _'Victoria Owen'. _The Batman nodded his head firmly and took a few steps back.

"I'll keep an eye on her. Don't worry." He soon disappeared into the dusky sky.

* * *

**AN: Hope this was a good chapter! Everyone, please REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. And thanks to everyone who reviewed/subscribed! **

**Cheers,**

**Jaime**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_**Warning: **This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.7_

-

Despite the fact that it was the weekend, the Elwood Spa wasn't so packed. Kayla and Victoria didn't even have to wait in a ceaseless line to confirm their reservation. Victoria leaned against a granite pillar and waited for Kayla to get her a towel and a locker combination from the front lobby. Kayla constantly turned around to check on her and smirked every time she looked at her. Victoria had his card in her left pocket and she still hadn't told Kayla that Bruce would be picking her up this afternoon or so. When Kayla was done paying, she energetically skipped down and handed Victoria a white towel and a combination to a locker.

"This will be such an eventful day. We're going to get our bikini wax done and get half an hour massages from cute masseuses. And I really should get my hairy legs waxed, don't you think-" Kayla stopped talking as soon as she saw Victoria just nodding her head silently, definitely looking bored. "Urgh, what's wrong? You're the one who begged me to come here with you and now, it seems to me that you don't even want to be here. I know that you're hiding something, Vic." Victoria took out her mustard yellow bikini and stuffed everything else into her petite locker.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just… a bit exhausted from work."Victoria began to take off her black Ed Hardy shirt and unbuckled her ripped faded jeans.

"Bullshit. There must be something going on. Don't even lie!"Kayla bit her nail and looked at her while she threw her tank top away. "No way! Did you sleep with Wayne? I knew that there was going to be a strong chemistry between you guys-"

"Hell no, Kayla. No I did not sleep with Bruce. We don't even know each other that well." Kayla became brisk again and began to take off her shorts.

"See, you're even calling him by his first name! You just called him Bruce. Oh my, is this going to be some kind of a romantic yet risky relationship?" For some reason, Victoria couldn't stop laughing and slapped Kayla's arm fairly hard.

"Well, I've made up my own rule that I'm only calling him Bruce when I'm not at work. And, there is absolutely nothing going on. I promise."

When they were done getting changed into their swimsuits, they first headed to the massage room where two typical tall, muscular, blonde, and tanned masseuses were waiting for them, shirtless. Topless for god's sake. Kayla's eyes widened and mouthed a few words to Victoria. 'This is going to be the best weekend ever!' Victoria lied down as her masseuse offered her a comfy bed, and felt warm lavender scented oil smothering her back which was definitely slimy but relaxing. She lifted up her head a bit and looked at Kayla, trying to flirt with the masseuse.

"Kayla, Do you really want to know what the problem is?" Victoria looked over and coughed intentionally and it made Kayla turn around.

"Um, yeah. Sure." She also lied down and faced Victoria.

"A few days ago, Bruce gave me his card, so I could call him after when we're done, so we could go to his manor-"

"How long are you going to stay so naïve? You're not in high school anymore! That's a booty call. Unquestionably." The masseuses began to laugh after hearing Kayla. Victoria gave a cold stare to her masseuse and lied back.

"Kayla, it's not like we can't be friends. And it clearly isn't a booty call or whatever you call it, because he told me that it's not going to be a special date or anything." She buried her head to the soft leather pillow.

"Fine, fine. But, keep in mind that men like him don't necessarily tell the truth."

* * *

When Alfred entered Bruce's bedroom filled with a few ornate frames and furnitures, holding a glass of strawberry and kiwi smoothie, he found Bruce, casually dressed in his dark jeans and a grey shirt.

"I assume that there's isn't anything planned this afternoon on your planner. May I ask where you'll be?" Alfred handed him the smoothie and he gulped it down within five seconds.

"I'm going down to the manor-" Bruce grabbed his favorite _Dolce & Gabbana_ black leather jacket he got from Milan, and glanced back at Alfred, who had a suspicious look all over his face.

"I believe that the manor is still under construction. Only half of it has been rebuilt."

"Um, I'm actually taking Victoria down with me. Just so she can...um...you know, explore... Don't worry, it's clearly not going to be something special...like a date." Alfred remained quiet for a while and smiled at Bruce who wasn't so brilliant at finding reasonable and believable excuses.

"I see. Would you like me to get you anything before you take off for your _'adventurous exploration'_ with lovely Miss Owen?" Alfred picked up the empty glass.

"I think I'll need another helmet for Victoria-" Bruce smirked and made the old butler feel more suspicious.

"What kind of a helmet? Sir, there are ample helmets in this town; a hocket helmet, ski helmet, bike helmet-" As soon as Alfred noticed a grin on his face, he stopped mentioning more helmets. "I see, sir. I'll get one down right now."

-

After half an hour of a tranquil massage and quick but extremely painful waxing time, Kayla brought a cup of iced latte for Victoria and both of them sat down comfortably in the VIP lounge, with magazines on their laps. The lounge wasn't so crowded either since it was nearly 1 o'clock and most of the 'clients' were gone eating.

"So, are you going to call him or make that poor man wait?" Kayla took a sip of her grande double chocolate mocha with plenty of whipped cream on top. Victoria took out his card from her blue purse and gave it to Kayla.

"I don't think...you know, it would be a smart idea to call him. It will be awkward." Kayla looked through his card and took out her cellphone.

"Victoria, are you scared to call him? I'll call for you if you-"

"No! Then, he'll think I'm a psycho or a stalker." Victoria grabbed her phone and took his card from Kayla.

"Wait a minute, he gave you his card so you can call him. It's not like you stole his card." Kayla took back the card and looked through it again. "It won't be so bad to spend a few hours with that hottie. Some girls would pay to go to his mansion with him-" Before she finished her sentence, Victoria's phone rang and when she checked the caller ID, it was certainly unknown.

"Hello?" Kayla rolled her eyes as she heard Victoria use her innocent, yet fake voice.

"I thought you were going to call me. Are you almost done?" His charming voice made her even more anxious.

"Um, I can't make it. Sorry-" She glared at Kayla, trying to get an answer or even an idea what to say to him.

"Come on, I've been waiting out here for two hours. Victoria, I won't be a total jerk. I promise." She didn't know what to say to him. She remained silent for about ten seconds and began to talk again.

"I...I have...a date! Yeah, yep. I just remembered- Um, I should go now-" Kayla tapped her own forehead hard and sighed. _'You are the worst liar in the whole world.'_

"I'm outside by the entrance. See you in a minute." Bruce hung up and Victoria let out a small sigh.

"You really don't know how to handle hotties, do you?" She poked Victoria's stomach and teased. "Gosh, I got to give you some tips. I say, when you see him, keep a certain distance from him, you know what I'm saying?" Victoria silently nodded. "But, here's a catch. If he asks you out again, never, ever say yes. Or even no. Say, _'Maybe, I'll have to check my schedule.'_ That way, he'll know that you're still interested in seeing him, so he'll try harder to get to you-"

"Wait a minute, where the hell are you getting all these info? And he won't ask me out again-"

"Honey, I've had my own 'dating tips' column for _Bonfire Magazine_ for several years now. Anyways, um, my last advice is that if you get very intimate with him-"

"All right, enough! I'm leaving-"

"Listen for fuck's sake! I said, if you guys, hypothetically have probably amazing sex, never ever sleep till the morning or stay at his place. When it's all done, grab all your clothes and leave. That's is the number one rule you should know. And lastly-" Victoria got up, still laughing, kissed Kayla's forehead and threw her plastic cup only containing ice into the trashcan. "Have fun. And don't forget to tell me everything!"

* * *

**A/N: I apologize for being lazy. I know that it has been a few weeks since I've uploaded a chapter, but I had six exams...and I've been busy. I really hope everyone will enjoy this lucky chapter 7! And, I would like to thank EVERYBODY who wrote meaningful reviews and subscribed! Keep it up!**

**Don't forget to review/subscribe!! It means so much to me and it definitely encourages me to continue!**

**Hugs&Kisses,**

**Jaime**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_**Warning**: This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.8_

-

When she got out with her long, wavy brown hair still damp, she wasn't so sure where he was. _'Hooray, he's not here! Yes, I'm free.'_ There were only a few cars parked by the entrance, but none of them seemed like it belonged to an affluent man who drove Lamborghini, sometimes Ferrari, Porsche and Bugatti Veyron.

"What took you so long?" She heard a stentorian male voice coming out from the side and found Bruce casually dressed in his dark jeans, grey shirt and a black jacket, leaning right against his bike, MV Agusta F4 CC. He took off his opaque aviator sunglasses and tucked right in his shirt.

"I never thought you would ride a bike." He offered her a hand, so she gave him her purse. She could never picture him on a bike, but surprisingly, it did suit him quite well. He handed her a pink helmet with purple polka dots on it, and waited for her to put it on.

"You expect me to wear this pink helmet and ride a bike with you? Um, thanks but no thank you. I'd rather get a cab-"

"Come on, you'll look hot in it. And it's the safest ride you could possibly get in Gotham." He took back the helmet and gently placed it right on her. Victoria sighed, and reluctantly adjusted the straps. _'God, is he hitting on me or just saying whatever's on his mind?' _she thought.

"This better be safe." She watched Bruce getting on his bike and suddenly, gleaming flash lights tickled her thin eyelids. A couple of paparazzis hid behind the cars and captured a few photos of them together. Vic

"Don't worry too much about it. It happens all the time." He tapped the seat behind his and Victoria dragged herself and sat tightly behind him. "Make sure you hold on to my waist if you don't want to fall off-" He put on his navy blue helmet and smiled as soon as he felt her arms wrap around him.

"I better be in one piece by the time I get there." Victoria leaned against his back and shut her eyes. _'God, I can't believe I'm doing this.'_

* * *

While Victoria was away, Harvey tried her house phone several times and left voice messages, waiting tolerantly until she answered back. He was still working on Paul Morgan's case with Gordon and some of his guys (Especially Ramirez because she was a sedulous worker) from the department almost surreptitiously, and subtly so the galling reporters won't pervade some rumors on tabloids. Harvey took a bite of his dried ham and cheese sandwich and continued looking through a videotape they got, again this morning, from the Joker. Gordon joined him with a mug filled with scorching coffee.

"I've contacted _AT&T_." He watched Harvey as he was looking carefully at the TV monitor, just nodding his head carelessly. "They said they'll fax her cell phone number as soon as possible, maybe within a couple minutes or so." Harvey took another bite and remained silent, still focused on the screen. "Dent, I thought you really cared about your girlfriend. I'm not so convinced if you really want the number or-"

"I do. I really do, but if we can't even solve this trial, how do you expect to solve the next case?" Gordon nodded. Harvey's bitter words pinched every inch of him. "By the way, she's not my girlfriend." Harvey paused for a couple seconds and saw Gordon murmur. "Doesn't that sound illogical to you? Giving up on Paul Morgan's case and moving on? And apparently, the Joker isn't going to be tolerant enough to wait till midnight, tonight. Are you still trying his cell phone signal?"

"Forget about that. We'll never get a signal, Dent. All we can do is wait for the next command-"

"Wait? Is that how your people do their jobs? Just wait and see that maniac kill all the innocent people? Unbelievable." Harvey slammed his wet palms against the table and glared at Gordon.

"Dent, that's all we can do for now! He didn't give us much information. Morgan's phone's off, there aren't many witnesses or clues, and the scale cannot be too big like I said. If the whole department gets involved with this case, the commissioner will be suspicious-"

"I've already delivered the message to the commissioner and the mayor. They have to know what's going on at least. They have to know that as we sit here and wait, one precious life will be sacrificed." Harvey said and rewinded the tape again with the remote.

"So this isn't so clandestine. At all." He put his mug down and looked at the screen.

"If right number of right people know, trust me, it will be. At least for awhile."

* * *

After being on a bike for more than half an hour, Victoria unquestionably felt nauseous and nearly vomited on his back (thank god she didn't. If she did, she would've been too embarrassed to go to work). As Bruce stopped, she literally jumped from her seat and fell down on the hard pavement (or was it a granite floor?). She didn't want to look like a wimp in front of him, so she simply wiped her butt and got up as if nothing happened.

"Are you all right? You shouldn't have jumped." He took her helmet and his, and threw it on the front lawn. The manor wasn't the same as it was before, but it was getting better and better. It seemed like they were two teenagers in a construction site, trying to find a good spot to drink or smoke dope. Victoria climbed up the stairs and saw a half-built mansion on a green plateau. There was absolutely nothing to take a close look at or be hypnotized by. She picked up her purse and began to walk closer to the manor. Bruce started talking big steps and this forced Victoria to jog, keeping up the paste.

"Jeez, can't you walk any slower? I'm only wearing flip flops." There were small pebbles on the way and they often tickled her feet. Bruce suddenly stopped and smirked.

"Do you want me to carry you? It's not too far-"

"No!" She definitely overreacted and walk past him. _'Please tell me that I'm not freaking out. He's just trying to help._' She said to herself. "I'm sorry if I yelled. I didn't mean it." She took a closer look at his face and saw him smile like a naive child.

"It's all right. I guess you're just stressed out." He often wondered if he can ever be_ 'friends'_ with her. Just friends, nothing more. Just like how she and Harvey were; friends. There was something definitely intruguing about her. Was it her hair? her pointy nose? Her straight, white teeth? her stubbornness? He had no idea. But he knew that he was mesmerized by her deep brown eyes.

"So, this is it? Or is there something you really want, or I'd say, have to show me?" She looked around, once again, trying to find something alluring. But, she couldn't. It was finding a pearl in desert.

"Come inside. I'll show you something you'd like." He said and they continued walking. She seemed more content than before after when he mentioned that there's at least something. When they got to the door (not quitely completed or decorated with ornate embellishment), Victoria searched through her purse to find her ringing cell phone.

"I'm sorry." She said to Bruce and picked up her phone. He waited by her, trying to hear her conversation with whoever was on the phone. "Hello?"

"Thank god, Victoria! Where the hell are you?" Harvey said with ecstatic tone. Bruce turned as soon as he heard a male voice.

"Harvey? I'm so sorry baby, I've been busy with stuff and I'm at Bruce's manor." Bruce couldn't believe she called Harvey her _'baby'_. I mean, were they just friends after all?

"What are you doing there? Are you sure you're all right? I don't feel safe that you're there. I can pick you up right now-"

"Harvey, don't worry. I'm safe. Bruce is here." Bruce smiled as soon as she mentioned his name.

"Exactly! That's why I don't feel safe. Is he hitting on you? Is he touching? If he does, just call me-"

"Hello?" Bruce took the phone from her ear and placed it on his.

"who is this? Bruce?" Harvey said. Victoria tried to get her phone back, but he held onto both of her wrists.

"Yeah, and we're busy right now. Can she call you back? Don't worry she's safe here. I won't do anything to her. So, bye." Bruce hung up and put the phone back into her purse. She looked at him, dumbfounded, rubbing her red wrists together.

"That really did hurt. Don't ever do that again. Or else-" Victoria stopped talking as he came closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. She stood still without resisting. "I'll go home. And maybe, you'll never see me again."

* * *

**A/N: The most annoying part of a romance fiction is that things move VERY SLOWLY (ex. plot, characterization, conflicts, climax, etc)...and since I have ZERO tolerance, I was GOING to make them kiss right there (even move on to the next level), but I decided to save it for later. So, sorry for the ones who wanted to see them 'get busy'. **

**Thank you to all the readers/reviewers/subscribers!!!!!!! You guys really make my day.**

**So, please continue READING, REVIEWING AND SUBSCRIBING FOR MORE.**

**Cheers,**

**Jaime S.**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_**Warning**: This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.9_

-

The rococo wallpaper on the second floor were peeled off from the concrete walls by the massive conflagration. The ashes smothered the wooden floor and little particles, dark as charcoal tickled her barefeet inevitably and painted her pink flipflops. Bruce stopped at the door and turned its knob left and opened the door for her. The room was pitch-black and she was reluctant to go into a devil's cave. Bruce grabber her hand and led her inside, pushing her closer towards him. There weren't any ostentatious coffee tables, a king sized bed, a full length mirror or a Persian carpet. It was only a vacant room. She gave him a dubious look and put her arms on her waist.

"Bruce, what are you trying to show me? There's nothing here. I should be going back home soon to finish up the reservations for the Summer Gala if there isn't anything." She sighed and noticed his shadow coming closer.

"Darn it, I thought I've told my contractor to keep all the furnitures in this room. I guess he took them away." Victoria forced a taut smile and rushed to the hallway. She desperately need lots of fresh air. He followed her footsteps and saw her breathing heavily by the staircase.

"Are you all right? I can take you to the hospital-"

"I'm fine. I just needed some fresh air." She paused and inhaled heavier. "Can you take me home now?" She said. He nodded and offered a hand.

* * *

When she got back home, it was already seven. She checked her answering machine and there were five messages, all from Kayla. Victoria wanted to efface everything that has happened today and headed to the bathroom. Her muscles were stiff and tense from riding a motorcycle for more than an hour, staying in a same position. she took off her clothes, drenched in water and sweat, and turned the shower faucet. As soon as scorching tap water massaged her tense body, she shut her eyes, inhaling vapor.

After washing away all the stresses, she heard her phone ring clamorously, and knew that it was obviously, Kayla, wanting to know every single detail about the manor and Bruce. Victoria swiftly wrapped herself in a white, lavender scented towel and ran to her phone.

"Yes, Kayla. What do you want?"

"For fuck's sake, Victoria! Pick up your goddamn phone as soon as it rings. I had to call you a zillion times tonight." Without attempting to dry her damp her, she sat on her couch, still in a towel, leaning her stiff back against the cushion.

"Relax, I was in a shower. I don't think the massage really helped since all my muscles are sore. So, why did you call me a zillion times?"

"You know," Victoria could hear her giggle on the phone. It was conspicuous that Kayla wanted to hear about her prince charming despite the fact that she has a long-term boyfriend who recently moved in with her.

"Do you care more about Daniel or Bruce Wayne? I'd like to know, really." Victoria said.

"Of course I care more about my boyfriend! I'd love him even more if he proposes any sooner because I'm turning thirty real soon and I want to have lots of babies." She said.

"You have to let him propose by himself. Don't you dare pressure him, and if you do-" Victoria paused and blew her runny nose with Kleenex. "It will just look pathetic."

"You see, all my friends are already married and you know that. They have kids, a devoted husband and a family." Kayla's voice shivered after when she was done talking about the whole marrige thing.

"No worries- I'm turning 29 next month and I'm fine without a boyfriend or a fiance." She heard Kayla sigh even heavier.

"I should really get you a boyfriend for your birthday. No jokes, you need to have lots of fun before you dry up-"

"Kayla, I'm not dried up. Not yet, at least! Being twenty eight isn't old to fool around with hunks in town, is it?"

"That's why I called! Vic, I really do think that you have a very high chance to hook up with Bruce Wayne since you guys work so close together. So, was he hitting on you or what? Are you guys going on another date soon?" She said.

"First of all, he wasn't hitting on me, and secondly, we're not dating, Kayla. He may be very winsome to many girls in town, but I can't cross the line. Do you get it?" Victoria got up from the couch and opened the fridge to get a bottle of Corona extra.

"No, I don't get it! But, would you ever, you know-" Kayla paused and waited Victoria to say something back. Victoria took three more sips and burped.

"Would I ever do what?" She finished the bottle within a minute and grabbed another one from the fridge.

"How long are you going to stay so gullible? Do what? Of course do him!"

"Kayla, I don't want to fool around with my employer! Can't you just get over the fact that I know that man and stop asking every single detail about him? It really gives me headaches." She bellowed.

"Jeez, someone's edgy tonight. I thought you guys weren't dating-"

"Of course not!" Victoria shouted again, and was scared if her neighbors heard her yell on the phone.

"So, I assumed that you two were only sleeping together, not dating." Kayla complained.

"No, no, never. ever. Anyways, I'm exhausted and I have to call a dozen caterers in town for the gala. I'll call you or see you tomorrow, all right?" Kayla reluctantly said yes and hung up. She was so garrulous and irritating sometimes, that it drove Victoria insane. She finished her second bottle and threw both of them into the bin. She put her phone on the kitchen counter as usual and tried to open the window to get some fresh air. She held the knob and pushed it up, but it didn't listen to her. _'Come on, come on'. _When she tried it again, unlike her first try, the window easily opened. _'Is there someone?'_ When she looked up, she saw a man, dressed in black armor, wearing a bat shaped mask, glaring at her. She immidiately dropped the wet towel and didn't move. She didn't even realized that she was naked in front of the masked vigilante.

"Aaah-" She screamed so loud that the Batman backed up a bit. She grabbed the white towel and looked for the pepper spray bottle.

"I'm not here to hurt you-"

"Then what the hell are you doing here? Have you been watching me all night?" He nodded and she quickly wrapped herself around a wet towel and fixed her sodden hair.

"I was told to-"

"By who?" She took big steps towards him.

"Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon. They're worried about you, so they've asked me to come and guard your house every night."

"Harvey said that?" She seemed confouned to hear this from the man she has just met, not from Harvey. The Batman nodded and sat on the staircase.

"Don't worry about me. Just do what you were going to do and sleep tight." She nodded and made her way to her bedroom. Then, she paused and looked back.

"I'm Victoria by the way." She was expecting him to say something back but he remained taciturn.

"I know already."

* * *

**A/N: I'm very, extremely stressed out lately because of SAT... Even though it would be MUCH easier for me to go to a Canadian university (such as UBC or University of Toronto), I want to get into a prestigious college like an Ivy League school (preferably Columbia or Cornell). I'm studying a lot lately, avoiding all the text messages/calls from my friends and family *tears* and the worst part is that the CR section KILLS ME SO MUCH. **

**So, I'm just wondering if anyone (Any American high school seniors) know how to score high on the CR section :) (You can PM me or write me)**

**Plus, reviewing/subscribing will encourage me even more.**

**Thank you to all the reviewers/subscribers!**

**Jaime **


	10. Chapter 10

_**Disclaimer:**I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_**Warning:**This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.10_

-

It was a typical Monday afternoon, tedious and occupied as usual at the Wayne Enterprises. All she could think of were Batman's hazel eyes from last night. She still couldn't believe that Harvey hasn't told her any information, but that's the way he kept things, and she understood that Harvey never wanted to jeopardize anything. She felt safe that the masked vigilante was protecting her at night, but she was undoubtedly embarrassed to walk around the house only in her bra and panties. She was still shocked that the Batman has seen her naked and wet last night.

Victoria finished choosing a caterer, who could provide salubrious and tantalizing amuse bouche and cocktails for the upcoming Summer Gala. Summer Gala was mainly for the social elites and big shots of Gotham, such as lawyers, doctors, mayor, entrepeneurs, and judges. Gala was going to be a formal evening, all the ladies dressed up in extravagant dresses from _Valentino, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Salvatore Ferragamo, Viviene Westwood, and Vera Wang._ Even the cheapest dress cost Victoria's monthly salary. Victoria ceased daydreaming about the dresses as soon as she heard Bruce's mellifluous voice on the speakerphone.

"Victoria, did you get the signed contract from Mr. Johnson?" He said. Victoria rummaged through the pile of paper and found a faxed document.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne, I'll bring it right now." She said and opened the glass door. She saw his eyes on the white _PING_ golf ball on the golf matt and his hands firmly grabbing the shaft of his a few hundred dollar _Callaway_ putter. She didn't want to distract him, so she stood still by the door and watched him putt. The ball went into the hole and he looked up with a content smile.

"Do I have to sign or read any of it?" He placed his club aside and sat on his brown leather chair. She was wearing a silk violet blouse with a beige pencil skirt, but all he picture was Victoria's naked body. He remembered how voluminous her breasts were and a small brown birthmark on her stomach. Victoria placed the contract on his desk.

"No, I've skimmed through it already. You only have to sign here and-"

"You smell different today. It's not that lavender scent anymore. It's more like a-" He grabbed his pen and signed the paper.

"Lemon. I've changed my shampoo." She took the contract and looked at his putter. "I never knew that you play golf." Bruce got up and took his putter.

"I have a nine-hole game with a few of my golf buddies tomorrow." He took another ball from the basket and placed it at the end of the matt. "Come here for a sec. Maybe I can teach you." Victoria left the contract on his desk and went up to him.

"I used to golf with my dad. I was the one who lost ten balls during a nine-hole game. What do you want me to do? Just stand here?" She asked. Bruce took her hand and stood still right behind her. He placed her hands and his hands on the putter and gently swung the club. The ball went too far and missed the hole by a few inches.

"You should bend a bit more and make sure you're not swinging with your arms." Bruce fixed her posture and gently embraced her from behind. He absorbed her scent and placed his hand on hers. Victoria quickly turned around, so their faces were not even an inch apart.

"I-I should really get back to work. I shouldn't be spending too much time with a billionaire, practicing putting in his office." She smirked and took the contract from his desk. He looked at her cordially, and smiled.

"I'll see you around."

* * *

Victoria rushed to the restroom and entered the first stall. Her cheeks were florid and her heart began to accelerate, as she thought of the way he put his hands on hers and how he embraced her. She needed to put some cold water over her heated face, but she hesitated to get out after hearing two women coming in.

"Oh my god, have you checked that gossip blog?" One of them said. Victoria listened carefully to their conversation.

"You mean _'Jane Winston's Juicy Gossip'_? No, I haven't been to that website for ages. Did anything interesting happened?"

"You have no idea. Apparently, Bruce Wayne has a new girlfriend and they were caught by the paparazzi at that spa-"

"What? Sara, are you talking about another fling he's dating or an actual girlfriend?"

"This time, it was different. Even Jane Winston said the girl wasn't a model or a ballerina. So, I checked the pictures and turned out that the girl in the picture was Victoria." Sara said. Victoria blocked her mouth with her hand and finally realized that there were a few paparazzis at the spa on Saturday.

"Who the hell is Victoria?"

"You know, the new secretary. I think she used to work at the trading department." She said.

"Oh my, are you serious? How did she get so lucky? Don't tell me that they fuck in his office-"

"I still think she's just another slut trying to get his money. Just like the last secretary he had, remember? I think her name was Rebeca-"

"Oh yes, I remember her. She had a huge ass. Even though she tried to get into his pants, he rejected her, remember? But, this Victoria girl, I'm not going to lie, she's hot. She's still pretty young, don't you think?"

"God, I'm so jealous right now. Why do all men want young girls? A thirty year old man wants a woman in her mid twenties, a thirty five year old man wants a girl also in her mid twenties! Jenny, we should really get married before we hit thirty. I think my boobs are getting saggy everyday." The two girls laughed and exited. Victoria stood against the wall and waited until their voices were fading. Tears came down her cheeks and her mind was flooded with anger. She ran to her desk and took a Kleenex from its box. She blew her nose hard, but more tears escaped from her eyes. After throwing out the tissue, she barged into Bruce's office and gave him a cold stare, who was still focused on his golf ball.

"It's all your fault! Everyone thinks we're dating." She yelled at him and he looked at her, whose face was still drenched with tears.

"Victoria, don't pay attention to those gossip blogs-"

"Shut up. Maybe it doesn't matter to you because you sleep with everyone in this town, but it matters to me because everybody in this damn building calls me a slut now, who sleeps with-"

"Wait, wait. What did you just say? You're not...you know, a-"

"Whore?" More tears began to came out and they chocked up her throat. Bruce walked up to her and locked her in his arms. She tried to escape in the beginning, pounding his chest as hard as she could, but couldn't get away from him.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered. She rested her head against his shoulder and put her arms around his neck. She wanted stay in his arms forever.

* * *

**A/N: Yep, this chapter ends like this...I feel sorry for Victoria who has to go through all these. But, she has Batman and Bruce Wayne with her, so I don't think it would really matter.**

**Thanks a lot to all my reviewers/subscribers**

**Please review and subscribe!**

**Cheers,**

**Jaime**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence. _

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.11_

-

Victoria's head was still resting on his stalwart shoulder, and a few minutes later, he gently lifted her up and put her on the leather couch. Her eyes were still watery from sobbing and her black eyeliner was smudged all around her eyes. She wiped her dark tears with her hands leaned back comfortably. He smirked, grabbed a tissue box for her and sat beside her. She took a tissue and began to blow her nose.

"You look like a sexy panda, you know that?" He suddenly laughed out loud and watched her blow her runny nose.

"Stop saying stuff like that! It really isn't funny." She grabbed another tissue and glared at the man she has been hugging for good ten minutes. His Calvin Klein perfume still lingered in her head and she wanted to absorbed more of it.

"Say what? I'm just telling you the truth. Apparently people think you're my girlfriend, so-"

"Bruce, you were the one who told me not to pay attention to any of those hearsay." She paused and tied her hair up in a bun. Ironically, the tips that Kayla had given her last Saturday popped up in her head, vexing her mind. She tried to avoid his congenial eyes, staring at his colossal bookshelves, filled with 'unread' or 'untouched' reference books. "I'm sorry if I yelled." She said. Bruce put his arm around her shoulder and moved closer. Her heart raced to the finish line as his hand was caressing her torrid cheek.

"You yell at me all the time, Victoria. Not a surprise at all." She gave him a sardonic smirk and kicked his calf like a tomboy. Soon she realized that she has crossed the 'line' she has been talking about already by letting him touch her cheek and put his arm around her. She didn't want him to stop stroking her hair because it felt like she was in nirvana. "Hold on for a sec." He said as he got up, freeing her from his nest and grabbed a red box lying on his desk.

"What is it?" She asked. He sat down next to her and opened the box. In it, there were about a dozen chocolate truffles. She reminisced the time when she went down to his clandestine chocolate factory behind the bookshelves.

"Want some? It will make you feel better." He handed a heart shaped one and took one for himself too. She took a small bite out of it and the tantalizing smell pervaded the room.

"Gosh, you and your chocolates." She took a bigger one from the box and fit the whole thing in her mouth. He watched her eat the chocolate and imagined what he had seen yesterday. Even though he tried to stop imagining her naked body, it wandered around his head inevitably. After finishing the second one, she took a third one from the box. He gave her an astonished look and handed her the whole box.

"I guess you like chocolate truffles." He said and watched her lick her finger.

"The only reason I'm eating them is because these taste exactly like the ones my mom bought me when I was a little kid." She smiled and focused on his hazel eyes. She could never imagine that he could be so benevolent and sweet, like the Prince Charming she had been dreaming of since she was in second grade.

"Really? So, um how's your family like?" He said, realizing that he had never heard her talk about her family to anyone he knew. Even though he had her profile that he got from Alfred in his first drawer, he couldn't find any information on her family.

"You'll never believe me, but my dad used to be a hardcore gambler and an alcholic when I was in high school. He would always come home, drunk and one night, he came in a taxi because he had to sell his car to pay his debt from gambling 24/7. My mom couldn't handle him anymore, so she eloped with her boyfriend. But I don't blame her for leaving me behind." She took another chocolate and leaned on his shoulder. His hands traveled down to her waist and held her tightly. "After she left, I had to live with my drunk father who was barely sober at night. One night, He dragged me to a local strip bar and told me to look carefully how the naked girls perform on the stage because soon, I'd be one of them." She paused again and let him stroker her hair with one hand.

"I didn't know you've been through those. I'm sorry-"

"You shouldn't be. After visiting that bar, I took a train down to Connecticut to my aunt's cottage and stayed there with her and my uncle until I got accepted to the Gotham University with full scholarship. Voila, I guess that's what my family's like. I still don't know where my mom is or how her boyfriend looks like." She said and glanced at her watch.

"So, how did you meet Harvey? I'm just curious. It's nothing personal." She stopped fidgeting as soon as he mentioned about Harvey.

"We went to college together. He was the one who typed all my tedious and perplex lab reports and I did his laundry." He looked at her with a dubious look plastered on his face and it made her laugh out loud. "I know it's weird that I did his laundry, but he was like my brother and he still is." She said.

"So, for the past years, you've never considered dating him or-"

"Why are you even asking me this? The answer's no, Bruce. Anyways, I have to go back to my apartment now. It's almost five and Harvey and Kayla are coming over tonight." She got up and grabbed another chocolate. "I can't stop eating these. I hope you don't mind that I ate half of the chocolate truffles you had."

"I don't at all. You can have all of them." He smirked and handed her the whole box.

"Thanks. It was very sweet of you to do all this for me. Maybe you should come over tonight. Do you have anything scheduled? Kayla would die to see you."

"No, I can't tonight. I'd love to though." He lied. He was actually planning to go and make a visit to her place tonight, keeping his promise with Harvey and Jim Gordon. He watched her leave and smiled.

"Then I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." She smiled back at him and left.

* * *

Victoria got to her apartment building with two large, all dressed pizzas from Joe's, a small bottle of Appleton rum, two packs of peach flavored wine coolers and three packs of Molson beer. When she put down her brown paper bag containing all the liquor she bought on the way home, in order to find her key, she noticed a dark shadow coming near.

"Need any help?" The deep male voice made her look up instantly.

"Jesus, Harvey! Stop scaring me like that." She smacked his arm and handed him the paper bag.

"I'm sorry. How was work today? Was it any fun?" She opened the main entrance and carried two scorching pizza boxes.

"Oh god, don't even talk about it. It was horrible. I cried in front of Bruce Wayne because apparently some paparazzis have caught us together in front of a spa last Saturday and the pictures went out on a stupid gossip blog. And the worst part was that I heard two girls calling me a whore just because they think I'm dating him just for his money. Isn't that just pathetic?" She said and started to walk up to her apartment. Harvey followed her and looked quite shocked.

"Was it the time when you two were going down to his manor? Is Wayne Manor even in the city land?"

"Harvey, I should be the one asking that to you because you're the big guy. You're the district attorney." She rummaged through her purse and tried to find her key again, which was buried under at least five tampons, a wallet, two handkerchiefs and an empty water bottle. Harvey stopped her hands from searching and cleared his throat.

"You know that I've been invited to the Summer Gala since I'm a big shot, right?" He said. Victoria laughed at him, who was trying to show off.

"Yes, and?" She leaned against her apartment door and put down the pizza boxes on the ground.

"Well, I have a tuxedo and an invitation, but I don't have a perfect girl or a date to take with me to the gala." He paused for a few seconds and grabbed her key out of her purse. "Would you be my date, Victoria?" He said. Victoria began to burst out laughs and put her arms on his shoulder.

"Wouldn't it be strange to take your friend as your date?" She smiled and saw him nod his head. "Then my answer's yes. We'll the odd one at the gala." She said. Harvey handed her the key and she opened the door for him. When they got in, they found Kayla standing next to a colossal pink box, with a red card in her hand.

"Kayla, I didn't know you were here already-"

"Victoria, who the hell is Mr. Anonymous?" Kayla showed Harvey the envelope saying, _'From Mr. Anonymous'_. Victoria buried her face with her hands and looked at her friends, without letting a single word out of mouth.

* * *

**A/N: So, this chapter ends like this. Harvey asks her to be his date and at the same time, she finds a giant parcel from Mr. Anonymous. Drama. Drama. Drama.**

**Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed! Merci beaucoup!**

**Please review and subscribe everyone!**

**Hugs,**

**Jaime S**

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer:**I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_**Warning:**This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 12_

-

"Isn't he the same creep who sent you roses last time?" Kayla took the brown grocey bag from Harvey and began to rummage through all the liquor bottles. She grabbed the Appleton bottle and began to look for Coke to make herself a rum cocktail. Victoria snapped the card from Harvey and put it in her purse.

"Right. Well, it's just some stalker, don't worry about it. It really isn't anything." She glanced at the box, which was way bigger than the one she received before from Bruce. Though, it was the same pink box as it was before with pastel colored ribbons.

"Maybe you should call the police, Vic. This is kind of scaring me-"

"Harvey Dent, you worry too much. Don't tell me that you're jealous of this creep. Maybe Victoria should open it in front of us before we all get shitfaced tonight!" Kayla laughed helplessly and poured rum into an enormous glass pitcher.

"Fine. Would you mind opening it in front of us?" Harvey took off his black blazer and tossed it on the counter. Kayla was still pouring liquor, but her eyes were glued onto the mammoth box. She started to whisper, _'Open it, open it!'_.

"Okay, only if you guys let me open it myself." She took the scissors on the mini table by the door and cut the ribbons. She ripped off the pink wrappers and opened it. There were fresh red and yellow rose petals, a small box of chocolates and a strapless, navy blue evening dress.

"Victoria, I can't see anything!" Kayla ran up to the box and lifted up the dress. Harvey stood still, watching two women around the box. He grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured himself some rum&Coke.

"Oh my fucking-"

"Kayla it's just an evening dress. So this guy must be crazy about Victoria since he sent even sent a dress for god's sake." Harvey interrupting, holding his glass. Victoria gave him a sardonic smile and felt the soft and flawless fabric of the dress.

"Great, all straight men certainly don't speak _Valentino_! Harvey, this dress at least costs about six grand. Victoria, you have to try it on while I make some gin and tonic. Go on, try it on for me! Pretty please?" Victoria reluctantly took the dress and went into her bedroom. All she could think of was how she felt in his arms in the afternoon. She placed the tossed onto her bed and looked for the card from her purse. She opened the envelope and read the card, which was neatly hand-written this time. Her hands were quivering as she held the card open.

_Dear Victoria,_

_I'm not going to lie, it took me seven days and four fashion experts to choose a perfect dress for you. I hope it's not too small or too big. I know that you didn't ask for it, but I thought it'd be nice to see you wearing this dress at the gala._

_And lastly, would you be my date for the upcoming gala?_

_Love,_

_Bruce_

She dropped the card on her bed and ran her fingers through her sleek hair. She couldn't come up with a plausible excuses to tell Bruce that she wasn't going to be able to be his date for the gala. (It was a much better choice to go with Harvey because first of all, it won't be awkward and secondly, she would have to deal with several other models who were also going to be his dates. Well, possibly.)

"Victoria, are you ready?" She heard Kayla bellow out loud in the livingroom, so she quickly undressed herself and fit into the silky dress. She grabbed the sparkly gold, five inch heels from her closet and rushed to the livingroom. Harvey was drinking and talking to Kayla, whereas Kayla was listening indifferently and finishing her pizza crust.

"Holy shit. Victoria, you look absolutely stunning! I can't believe it's her, right Harvey?" She elbowed his arm, who was staring at her, contemplating how gorgeous she looked in it.

"Um, yeah. You look pretty." He took another sip of beer and leaned back.

"I'm glad it looks good on me at least." She turned around showing Kayla the intricate details the dress had around its bottom.

"But, how the hell did he know your size? Did he even know that you had huge ass and boobs-"

"Kayla, shut up! Okay, my ass is-"

"Definitely unproportional to your body. Go back, get changed and have some pizza. It's delicious. But, I'm sure it'll double your ass and boobs by tomorrow morning." Kayla stared at her butt, and laughed out loud again. She glanced at Harvey, who still had that _'Serious Work Face'_ on. Victoria stormed off to her room and Kayla grabbed another piece of pizza.

"Harvey, that's why you only _'hang out'_ with chicks. You never hang out with guys, you know that?" She got up to get a few more bottles of cold beer.

"I do have guy friends. You two keep calling me to see if I have anything to do-"

"That's because you don't have anything to do on Mondays or on the weekends. Anyways, I won't tease you anymore. It's not fun anymore." She placed the bottles on the table while Harvey changed channels with the remote. "Harvey, what's wrong? You don't look too happy today." She said.

"Well, I really want to know who that _Mr. Anonymous_ is. He must be an old, definitely balding, rich guy." Kayla glared at him and rolled her eyes.

"Damn it, just ask her out-"

"I only like her, Kayla." He took a bottle of beer and loosened his grey tie.

"Puh, oh please. Say it like you mean it."

* * *

Bruce was checking out different gadgets he had received a few days ago from Lucius Fox. Most of them were the improved versions of his previous weapons and only a couple of them were the new ones he had to practice with before using it. He was in an esoteric chamber attached right beside his study, which Alfred and he only knew about it. He began to put on his rubber gloves, getting ready for his night patrol around the city. Alfred entered as Bruce was putting on his mask.

"Master Wayne, are you going out again tonight? Shouldn't you be taking a small break?" Alfred asked with an anxious tone, looking at the ample bruises he had on his back.

"Yeah, I have to check on Victoria. I have to see whether she's safe or not. And the bat signal is on." He put on his whole suit, and tightened his belt.

"I see, sir. Do you think she'll like the dress?" Bruce smirked with his Batman suit on and placed all the leftover gadgets into a black styrofoam box.

"I hope so."

"Very well, sir. I'll see you tomorrow morning then. Hopefully in one piece." Alfred gave him a cordial smile and exited.

* * *

It was already eleven o'clock at night and Victoria was left alone with copious liquor bottles and two empty pizza boxes. She dragged her garbage bin and dumped all the bottles and the cardboard boxes. She was worried about Kayla, who really was shitfaced from drinking countless bottles of beer and glasses of rum and Coke. She wasn't even able to walk straight or talk normally, so Harvey had to carry her back to her apartment. When she was done cleaning up the mess, she found Batman sitting by the emergency stairs which were right next to the window in the livingroom.

"Gosh, you scared me again." She let out a sarcastic laugh and stopped as he didn't respond. "Okay, are you this quiet all the time? Shouldn't you be going around the city?" She walked towards him and sat on the couch.

"I'd rather listen to you talk." She sighed and grabbed a box of chocolates she had received from her _not so 'secret' admirer_. She took one that was covered in shredded coconut and bit into it until succulent coconut syrup came out of it.

"I really shouldn't be eating these tiny devils since I have to fit into the dress I got." She finished her first chocolate and reluctantly closed the box. She looked up at the Batman, who was only staring at her with an indifferent facial expression. "Right. Well, someone actually sent me the dress and apparently, my ass and my boobs look too big in that dress according to my best friend. So, I should say no to any liquor or chocolates to look decent at the Summer Gala." She just felt, no, needed to talk to someone about all the random and trivial things that happened. Maybe she was just too wasted or tipsy to function like herself. She looked up again, and laughed at the masked vigilante. "You don't even talk or laugh? Isn't it funny hearing a girl talk about her ass?" Again, she was the only one laughing in this room. Her cheeks were getting torrid and heating up from the rum she had been gulping down.

"I do talk and laugh, but I'd rather listen and save lives." He said and got up from the stair step.

"Wait, where are you going? Aren't you supposed to keep an eye on me?" She began to hiccup like a toddler did.

"I have go out ont the streets tonight. But, I'll be back once you fall asleep." His deep voice still wandered around her head until his shadow faded from the window. He was gone.

* * *

**A/N: It's Jaime again, and I hope this was a good update for y'all. I've updated the picture of Victoria's Valentino dress on my PROFILE, so you can check it out!**

**Reviews and Subscriptions are much appreciated! **

**Please review!**

**Hugs,**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence. _

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.13_

-

It was already Friday morning, nine hours until the opening of Summer Gala. There were Susan Dickson, _a caterer_, Kurt Woods, _the deputy head who was in charge of sending out invitations_, Mark Simons, _the head designer_, and Sarah Novics, _who was going to collect donations at the gala and organize the silent auction._ While they were deliberating, going over the auction items and trying twenty different amuse bouche, Bruce entered with Victoria on his right side, who was holding a blue folder. He took the seat at head of the table and Victoria handed out the information sheets to everyone.

"Good morning everybody. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for your tremendous effort to make this gala possible. As Miss Owen here, has provided the general information on the gala, you can look into it closely. I hope everyone here knows that our venue had been changed to my upper penthouse floor. So, are there any changes or concerns regarding this?" Bruce asked as he saw Susan getting rid of all the dishes on the table.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne. Since we've changed the venue at the very last minute, unfortunately, Mrs. Vernier refused to deliver her chandalier." Sarah Novics said with her thick French accent, while raising up her _Gucci_ glasses. She was probably in her late thirties, but her unruffled skin and thick layers of make up made her look like a total MILF. She surely was attractive in a way her bleached blonde hair came down to her upper back.

"Ms. Novics, I'm sure that we already have enough auction items."

"Also, I just want to point out that the sauteed scallop amuse bouche I've just tried is an utter disaster. I find it too creamy and I think Susan shouldn't include that dish." Sarah said nonchalantly and looked around the room. Everyone remained tacit and some of them avoided her evil eyes. She glared at Susan who had her sweaty palms on her thighs.

"But, she has been working for three days straight. I thought it was delicious-"

"Excuse me? Wait, Miss Owen, right? Are you saying that we should ruin the party by providing our guests with that crap?"

"Ms. Novics, I think you've gone too far with this issue. I'm sure everyone here agrees with Victoria that we should include the dish. Also, Miss Dickson has worked hard on it as we all know." Bruce looked at Victoria who was sitting beside him and gave her a faded smile.

"Fine. Do whatever you want. I'll see you all at the gala." Sarah grabbed all her stuff and exited. Everyone remained silent for awhile and looked at Victoria as if she did something wrong.

* * *

An hour later, the meeting was over. Thankfully, everyone seemed satisfied to finish a diligent discussion without Sarah Novics. Mark Simons shook Bruce's hand firmly, reminding Bruce that he'd be finishing the decoration and setting up the tables by six o'clock, two hours before the gala. Everyone left, and in the conference room, there were only Bruce and Victoria. She collected all the used glasses on the table and pushed the chairs in.

"Victoria, you don't have to collect the empty glasses. I'm sure the janitor would clean up the place." He took the glass she was holding and put it back on the table.

"I need to tell you something." She ran her fingers through her hair, tickling her scalp.

"Did you get the dress? Did it fit you?" He took out his hands off his pocket and watched her.

"I can't take the dress. It's too much-"

"I'm sure you can. Who else would wear it? Besides, you'll look fabulous tonight." She gave him a wry smile and took the blue folder.

"Bruce, I'm sorry but I can't be your date for tonight." She saw his smile fading from his face. "Harvey has asked me before I checked the card, so I guess I have to go with him. Sorry." She bit her bottom lip as he seemed extremely irked and disappointed.

"It's all right. I guess I'll see you at the gala, then?" She nodded her head silently and walked away. Bruce stood still and watched her leave. He took out his phone and dialed Melissa's number, hoping she'd be able to make it.

* * *

Victoria entered the ball room exactly at ten past eight. She did wear the dress that she got from him and put her hair up in a loose bun. Her bare shoulders allured ample single men's eyes. More than half the guests were present, holding champagne glasses and a small amuse bouche on the other hand. She began to look for Harvey who was supposed to be at the gala earlier than anyone else. She did feel uncomfortable in her dress in the beginning, but as she moved around, she got used to it. She saw an old man carrying a tray of champagne flutes approaching her.

"Would you like some champagne, Miss Owen?" Alfred said as she grabbed a glass from the tray.

"Thanks. Are you Bruce's butler?" She took a sip of a bubbly drink.

"Yes, miss. Please call me Alfred. And you do look gorgeous in that dress." He gave her a hearty smile. She looked down at her dress and smiled.

"Thank you, Alfred. Please call me Victoria, I'm still not used to people calling me Miss Owen." She saw Alfred nod and felt much better.

"I hope you enjoy tonight's party, Miss Victoria." Alfred walked away, offering drinks to balding entrepeneurs. Soon, she felt someone's arms embracing her waist.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Harvey was in his tuxedo, and she was quite surprised to see him wearing a black tux, since he was always in his business suits.

"Don't be. You look very handsome tonight, Mr. District Attorney. Do you want to go around and introduce me to your boring friends?" She said. He laughed at her and began to go around the room. While Harvey got a drink from the table, Victoria grabbed a crab amuse bouche and stuffed it in her mouth.

"I don't think a lady should stuff the whole thing at once, don't you think?" Harvey teased her again, handing her a napkin.

"Harvey, it's supposed to be an _'amuse bouche'_, which means that you're supposed to be able to fit the whole thing in your mouth." She grabbed another one and held onto his arm. Suddenly, everyone at the party was disturbed by the stentorian sound of a helicopter from the balcony. Victoria looked at the balcony and saw Bruce with two svelte girls, who were possibly models or gymnasts. Both of them looked beautiful in their fluorescent colored cocktail dresses, but their heavy makeup made them look plastic. The security guard opened the door for them and everyone's eyes were on the two girls in his arms. Victoria sighed and looked at Harvey, who seemed quite vexed to see a spoiled billionaire with two girls.

* * *

It has been a little bit more than an hour since the party started. Some guests were at the silent auction, putting their names down on a piece of paper placed in front of each item. Some of them were chatting with their business partners and cronies. Harvey was still talking to the same, balding lawyer for over ten minutes. Victoria was thoroughly bored, so she grabbed another glass of champagne. She looked through tantalizing desserts on a table and felt a warm hand on her back.

"So, you wore the dress." He smirked while holding an empty champagne flute.

"Bruce, do you always have to scare me?" She grabbed a white chocolate fudge and took a small bite out of it. His hair was slicked back as usual and she fixed his crooked bow tie.

"Thanks. And, you look stunning tonight. I wish you were my date, not Harvey's." She glanced at Harvey, who was done talking to a lawyer.

"You already have two for tonight, Bruce." She took a mini chocolate cheese cake and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Shouldn't you be avoiding chocolates and alcohol?" He smirked again, and Victoria swallowed the cake.

"Oops, too late. Wait, are you saying that I'm fat? You're right. I should shed some pounds." She finished her fourth glass and saw Harvey walking towards them.

"It's good to see you Bruce." Harvey shook his hands firmly and forced a smile.

"It's good to see you too. So, I guess you're enjoying your time with Victoria?" Victoria excused herself from their conversation and headed to the bathroom to fix her bun. Bruce took a sip from his glass and waited for an answer.

"Yes, I guess so. Although she's not enjoying talking to my lawyer friends." Harvey said. Bruce laughed quietly and continued talking.

"But at least your date looks hot in that dress." Bruce noticed Harvey's pretended smile.

"Actually, some balding, old stalker sent her the dress. How ironic, right?" Harvey bitter words punched him in the face. Hard.

"Yeah, you're right. Anyways, I'll see you two later." Bruce wasn't even pretending to smile anymore. He walked away as Victoria came back from the bathroom and stood beside Harvey.

"Hey, I'm back." She said, still holding a champagne glass.

"Can I ask you something?" Harvey asked. Victoria nodded as she grabbed another glass from the tray.

"You know, we've been friends since college and-"

"Oh my god. Are you going to ask me to do your laundry again?" She laughed as she said it. Harvey sighed and continued.

"No. But, I'd like you to be my girlfriend, not my laundry person. So, what's your answer?" Victoria's jaws became numb, unabling to let out a single sound. He waited tolerantly for a positive answer. She blinked her eyes and all of a sudden, she thought of Bruce's warm touch again and imagined kissing him, not Harvey. She shook her head and finished her drink.

"Is the answer no? Or is it-"

"Harvey, can we discuss this later? I'm-"

"Great. You're seeing someone else, right? Please don't tell me that you're seeing Wayne, that guy's a-" All of a sudden, Bruce dragged Harvey by locking his stalwart arm around Harvey's neck, and pulled him to an empty room.

"What the hell are you doing? Leave him alone!" Victoria tried to free Harvey from his arms but couldn't do so.

"He's here. The Joker's here for Harvey."

* * *

**AN: Yeah, Harvey asks her out and this chapter ends like this. (And of course, the villian's going to show up real soooon) **

**A QUICK SURVEY!**

**_Q: Who would you choose between Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne?_**

**Review and Subscribe everyone!**

**Love,**

**Jaime**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters. _

_**Warning:**__ This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence. _

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter.14_

-

As soon as she heard Bruce say that the Joker would be coming in any minute, she heard a stentorian gunshot from the entrance. There were at least seven men wearing painted masks, holding shot guns, following the guy in a shabby green and purple suit with heavy makeup. Victoria turned around to see where Bruce was, but he was already gone with Harvey. _'Shit,'_ She thought. She left her champagne flute by the ivory statue of a Roman goddess and made her way to the ballroom.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen-" The Joker stopped at the dessert table and picked a chocolate fudge. He stuffed it in his mouth, while holding a champagne glass on the other hand. "We won't hurt anyone only if I get to have a short chat with Harvey Dent!" He continued eating voraciously and waited for Harvey to show up. He went around the crowd of people and inspected each one of them. Some women tried to escape to the balcony or even down to the emergency exit, but were caught by Joker's armed men. The masked crew dragged one women named _Rebecca Miles_ who was struggling violently with one of his men, and threw her on the gelid granite floor. The Joker grabbed her jaw bone and lifted her off the floor. "Are you scared missy? Is that why you tried to run away from-"

"Becky! Hey, leave my wife alone right now." A thin, middle aged man with thick glasses ran up to his wife and Joker. He encompassed his wife and tried to pull her away from the villain.

"Aw, that's really cute. A husband standing up for his wife. But, I won't let this bitch go until Harvey Fucking Dent shows up." Joker pushed Rebecca and her husband on the side and took a full, unopened wine bottle from underneath the table. He took the cork out in front of everyone and poured the red liquid on the couple. Victoria was eager to stand up and cease the man from doing such an atrocious thing, but was too intimidated by his apparent scar and ostentatious makeup. "Where the hell are you Harvey? Don't tell me that you're scared of a clown also!" The Joker said out loud with a sardonic tone. He glared at Victoria, who was standing right by the couple drenched in red wine.

"Well, hello gorgeous. Would you like to dance?" The Joker approached her and took her wrist.

"Stop it, you sick bastard-" She grabbed the empty wine bottle off the floor and smacked his head with it. The shattered glasses rested on his head and soon, his dirty blonde hair became damp from warm blood.

"I like you already. You should be my doll, and you know what?" He pulled her closer and took out a sharpened knife from his pocket. He poked her stomach with it as if he was enjoying her anxious facial expression. "I'm going to hurt you, make you cry out my name, and make you bleed. After I'm sick of fooling aroun with you, my doll, I'm going to cut you into small pieces and play around with your blood instead." She soon became nauseous after hearing his gruesome words. Her goosebumps made her quiver and forced her eyes to be watery. She tried to push him away, who was still bleeding, but his knife was not even a millimeter away from her bare skin.

"You're a freak, you know that? No, even worse than-"

"Do you really want me to shut you up right now? Huh?" He pulled her bun and slapped her face. She collapsed, hitting her head strikingly hard against the floor. None of the guests had enough guts to stand up for Victoria, and soon, everything faded away.

* * *

The bright light scintillated upon her face. She ruffled her forehead, as she needed to sleep more. She was unable to move her arms or her legs freely. The soft cashmere bedsheet embraced her bare legs, and the foreign morninga flower scent travelled through her olfactory gland. The bed was definitely comfortable and cozy, due to its numerous layers of paddings. _'This definitely isn't my bed. Where am I?'_ When she opened her eyes, she nearly jumped out of the bed she has been sleeping in. She was the only one in the spacious and modern bedroom, embellished with a few paintings and vases filled with red roses. She smelt _Calvin Klein_ cologne from the colossal t-shirt she was wearing. She lifted up the green shirt slightly, and noticed that she was still in her pink thong she wore at the gala. As she heard a loud knock on the door, she hid under the duvet and pretended she was asleep.

"Miss Victoria, are you still asleep?" She heard a familiar British accent, so she got up. Her hair was a mess, her skin was pallid, and the begs under her eyes made her squint even more.

"No, I just woke up. How long have I been sleeping?" She glanced at the clock beside the lamp and it was only ten o'clock.

"A day or so, I believe. I brought you some clothes and breakfast. Hope you like pancakes." He placed the clothes and the breakfast tray on the table.

"Thank you so much Alfred." She said. Alfred nodded and exited before she could ask what happened at the gala after she became unconscious. She walked to the bathroom and looked at the mirror, and was nearly shocked to see her pale skin and thick begs. _'I really need a shower.'_ She turned on the faucet and let the scorching water encompass her warm body.

* * *

That was probably the longest shower she had taken in years. Most of the time, while in the shower, she tried to remember how she got to Bruce's spacious and priceless penthouse, and who had undressed her. She took a white towel from the top drawer and wrapped it around her body without drying any water off. She headed back to her room, and looked at the clothes on the table. She wanted to sleep a little bit more, maybe for about ten minutes, so she crawled into bed. Water was dripping from her hair, but she didn't even bother to dry it. She heard another knock and assumed that it would be Alfred again.

"Come in-" She said while she twirled her damp hair. She looked up, and saw Bruce casually dressed in his jeans and a v-neck baby blue shirt.

"Hey, are you feeling better?" He dragged the plastic white chair from the corner and placed it beside her bed. She nodded silently and smiled.

"Much better after the shower. I hope you don't mind your duvet getting wet." Waterdrops fell down from her shoulder to her arms, then to the duvet.

"It's fine. As long as you're comfortable here." He said.

"Um, do you know what exactly happened after I fell? At the gala? Wait, where were you? Is Harvey all right?" She asked. He turned around to the table, grabbed the glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and passed it to Victoria.

"Wow, three questions at once. Harvey's fine, and secondly, Batman came and got you out of that mess. He brought you to me while I was in my study, trying to call the police." He has been thinking of this plausible excuse for an hour, and it seemed like Victoria was believing everything he was spitting out of his mouth.

"Okay. Well, thank you for letting me stay here. I think I should be going back soon-"

"Victoria, I'd feel much better if you stay until tonight. I'll take you back home around eight. Is that fine?" He glanced at his watch again and smiled as she nodded.

"Thank you. Again." She wrapped the towel around tighter and finished the glass of juice.

"You're welcome. I'll be in the livingroom." He got up and took her empty glass. Victoria stretched out her arm and snapped his wrist. He turned around and sat down again. "Do you need something else?" He asked.

"Can you stay in bed with me?" She said. His eyes widened and awkward silence overwhelmed the atmosphere. "No, gosh, I didn't mean it that way- I just need someone I can snuggle with because I'm getting cold." She bit her bottom lip and her cheeks heated up and became torrid. _'Oh my, what did I just say?' _she said to herself.

"I'm sure I can do that." Bruce went around to the other side and went under the beige duvet. As he lied down, she crawled near him and place her head on his left arm and embraced him as she did to her teddybear when she was little.

"I might fall asleep. And, I do snore." She shut her eyes as she felt safe in his arms. His free right arm landed on her tiny waist and he kissed her forehead.

"Good night." He said as he watched her sleep. He stared at her rosy lips, and was tempted to kiss it. Her eyes were closed, she was still wet, she was naked just under the damp towel, and he could see her cleavage; it was indeed, a perfect temptation he had to endure.

* * *

**A/N: I am SO tempted to make him kiss her in this chapter, but I've planned the whole process already, so I waited tolerantly. Again. Please understand!! **

**I'm sure everyone's jealous of Victoria right at this moment (even I am!)**

**Anyways, thanks for the reviews & your answers to my question _(Bruce Wayne V.S. Harvey Dent) _**

**!DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW AND SUBSCRIBE!**

**Luv,**

**Jaime**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Disclaimer:**I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_**Warning:**This story contains sexual contents, some explicit language and violence._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 15_

-

She couldn't feel his body heat anymore. Victoria was still in a towel, and the windows weren't reflected by the scintillating sun. The clock was yelling that it was already six o'clock, and it was time for her to get some clothes on. She put her messy hair in a bun and took the clothes that Alfred had brought earlier. There were a simple white Nirvana t-shirt, a pair of grey sweats, her washed and dried bra and a pair of black knickers. When she was done putting her new clothes on, she took the tray and headed to the spacious livingroom.

It did take her a little bit less than five minutes to find where the livingroom or the kitchen was. His place was more byzantine than the labyrinth she had seen in movies before; there were at least eight rooms, including the guest bedrooms, and four bathrooms with enormous tubs. The granite floor was extremely cold that she thought she was going to have a minor frostbite. Thankfully, Alfred saw her holding her tray, so she was able to make her way to the livingroom, which was right below her guest room. His livingroom was probably the size of her whole apartment (or even bigger). She sat on sticky black leather couch and looked around. Alfred was in the kitchen, making dinner and Bruce was nowhere to be found. Victoria went to the kitchen, and saw Alfred sauteing mushrooms and onions.

"Alfred, do you know where Bruce is?" She had one arm on the counter, balancing her weight. He gave her a hospitable smile and poured cream sauce into the pan.

"I believe that he's in his study, Miss Victoria. It's right beside the first bedroom on this floor." Alfred turned down the heat and wiped his wet hands with a red towel.

"Thanks." She smiled back at him and exited. She passed by the first bedroom, and found another room with its door closed. She knocked a few times, but she couldn't hear anything. She waited for another minute and knocked again.

"Yea, come in." He said. When she entered, she saw him on his Blackberry, and staring at his laptop screen. He gestured her to sit on one of the sofas and continued talking. He was still wearing that blue shirt and his hair was flawlessly slicked back, as usual. Victoria saw Vanity Fair magazine on the coffee table and skimmed through it, listening to him talk on the phone. He seemed more serious than he usually was, and glanced at the monitor quite often while talking.

"I'm sorry, but did you sleep well?" He was done talking and put down his Blackberry and sat beside her. She closed the magazine and ran her fingers though her hair.

"Yes, I did. I bet you left early because I was snoring too loud." She bit her bottom lip and giggled as he laughed.

"I wasn't actually going to tell, but I guess you already know about it." She slapped his upper arm with the magazine and continued reading.

"Hey, who were you on the phone with? It did seem like a heavy business talk." She asked and closed the magazine again.

"It was Gladys Dubois. You probably don't know her-"

"Is she your next girlfriend?" She said playfully as she twirled her hair with her finger.

"No, she'll never be because she's twenty years older than I am. Plus, I'm not so into married women." He seemed irritated to hear her unexpected question, but he continued talking. "She's organizing the 'Casino Soiree' this year where nine or eleven entrepeneurs gather at an extravagant hotel and play poker for five days." He paused. She seemed puzzled to hear him talk about gambling. After all, it did remind her of her dad and his fanatic gambling habits.

"And what? All you rich folks do is gamble all night with strippers around the table?" She had her unique sardonic tone, but he could tell that she did mean some parts of it.

"No, Victoria. It's nothing like that. It's sort of a business meeting where the CEOs talk about how their companies are progressing. It actually gives me headache and the gambling part is just a social event where everyone gets to know each other. And, we get to take one employee on this conference." She still seemed confused, but nodded several times.

"I see. Maybe you should take Mr. Reese. He'd be a good company." She flipped through the tedious endorsement pages.

"Coleman Reese? I think he's mediocre out of a hundred legible employees." He paused and glanced at his _Rolex_ watch. Coleman Reese was a materialistic employee, who merely worked for affluence. He evidently didn't know Coleman well enough, and hearing his name from Victoria was quite unexpected. "I'm pretty sure I have a much better candidate in mind." She put away the magazine and contemplated.

"Who is it? Mr. Fox? Mr. Jansen, or-"

"Well, I think you'd be a perfect company. Much better than Mr. Reese since he'd most likely talk about business and politics-"

"So, you actually want me to go to this conference? I bet that all the employees would vie to go." She hesitated for a moment and gave him an ambivalent smile.

"I'm sure they are. It's the greatest opportunity for them to prove their potential as businessmen to other entrepeneurs-"

"Then why are you taking me? I don't think I even have potential to be an ideal businesswoman-"

"Because I feel comfortable around you. For once in my life, I'd actually enjoy that annual conference." He took her hand and massaged it gently. "So, are you in?" She hesitated for several seceonds and shrugged.

"I guess I can't say no to that."

* * *

**AN: Hey everyone! Jaime's finally back (from hell) and she's writing again!**

**I know it has been quite a long time (I guess a week or two?), but here's the new chapter!**

**I have to mention two things to all the readers:**

**1. First question is, 'DO YOU WANT RACHEL TO BE PART OF THIS STORY?' Plz tell me what you want!!!**

**2. I might be busy writing a new fanfic (It's going to be a Batman fic), so I won't be able to pay attention to this :S But, no worries, you can check out the new story, comment, etc!**

**Thank you!! (Ah, and don't forget to REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE)**


	16. Chapter 16

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_

* * *

  
_

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 16_

-

"You're kidding me, right?" Kayla dropped the suitcase she was holding for Victoria in the closet. She gave Victoria a dubious look and a feign smile.

"Kayla, listen-"

"You're going away. With Mr. Dreamy. To Vegas. In his private jet." Victoria nodded as Kayla paused in between her sentences. She began stuffing her suitcase with dress pants, pencil skirts, and silk and cotton blouses.

"It's called a fancy _'business conference'_-"

"That involves shit loads of weekend sex, unlimited alcohol consumption, and 24 hour gambling."

"Why don't you put it this way; a business conference with a bit of refreshments minus the weekend sex part." Kayla poured more cranberry juice into her glass and watched her pack.

"What's wrong with fooling around with Bruce Wayne? Who wouldn't want to do him? At least he won't forget your name in the morning-"

"Kayla! He's clearly not my boyfriend. And we're not going to be sharing a room, which means that I won't see him during the night."

"It's Vegas. You don't have sex only when the sun goes down. And, I'm pretty sure you'd at least be able to find a private pool." Kayla laughed helplessly for a few seconds, but stopped as Victoria gave her the evil-eye look. "Fine, fine. Minus the weekend sex part."

"Good. Now, while I'm away, I need you to call Harvey and tell him that I'm safe and doing fine. I know that he'd be worried shitless." She stuffed all her toiletries into a transparent plastic make-up case, and zipped her suitcase.

"That's it? You just want me to tell him that you're doing fine?" She grabbed her trench coat and paused as she made her way to the door.

"And, tell him that I miss him. A lot."

* * *

Alfred was placing all the dry-cleaned and pressed white shirts in a beige suitcase. He glanced at his watch, and knocked on the master bedroom. Hearing no noise or an answer for a minute, he poked head inside and saw Bruce, still asleep, with his chin adhered to his pillow. Alfred took small steps to the blinds and put them up immediately. Bruce whined like a toddler, and buried his head into the pillow. He was definitely feeling lethargic from last night's patrol in the alleys of Gotham.

"Sir, you do realize that Miss Victoria would be waiting for you at the airport-"

"Damn it, that was today? What time is it, Alfred?" Bruce had his hand on his cut he got last night on his abdomen, and ran into the bathroom only in his plaid boxers.

"It's almost noon. And according to the agenda, your plane is supposed to leave in half an hour."

"I'll be ready by then. Give me five, will you?" He turned the shower on, and quickly rinsed his hair with water.

"Would you like to take your Audi?" Alfred asked as he picked a plain gray shirt, dark jeans, and a leather jacket from the closet.

"I think Ferrari will make it in time."

* * *

She was exhausted. She had been stuck in his privet jet with loquacious three stewardesses for about an hour. She kept glancing at the girls applying more make up than usual by the mini bar in the back. Two blonds and one brunette put on thick black eyeliner and cherry red lipstick. One of them gave her a forced smile and others just discarded her. She took out her _Allure_ magazine and skimmed though the same pages she had gone over hours ago. The silence broke as soon as a male flight attendant came in with a suitcase in his hand, and Bruce following him from behind.

"Mr. Wayne! Oh my god, we missed you so much! And you do look fabulous as usual." One of stewardesses came forward and approached him, landing her hand on his chest.

"Sorry, Wendy. And you all look gorgeous today-" He kissed all the attendants' cheeks and as he took off his aviators and found Victoria with her chine glued to her hand, looking tedious.

"Hey there, is everything all right?" He took a seat facing her and took a glass of iced water with a lemon wedge as Wendy handed him one.

"Yes, Mr. Wayne. Everything is fine, except for the fact that my ass has been stuck to this seat for an hour." She rolled her eyes as he winked at Wendy.

"I'm sorry, I had a rough night last night, and-"

"You forgot, didn't you?"

"Excuse me?" He leaned back and gave her a confused look.

"You forgot about this trip. I can tell by that guilty look on your face." She crossed her legs and opened her magazine again, avoiding his gaze.

"You're cuter when you're mad, you know that?" He took a sip of water and took the magazine from her hands.

"You're a jerk sometimes, you know that?" She shot back at him. Without saying a word, he laid his hand on hers, transmitting his body heat to hers.

"Hey-" They were overwhelmed by sudden silence, and all could be hear were their heart beats. "I'm sorry."

* * *

**AN: I'm .so. sorry that it has been a while since my last update...I've been super busy. **

**Oh, and my best friend will be on the TV show, ****_DeGrassi_ in TWO weeks!! His name's Brandon and I'm super pumped to see his first show.**

**Anyway, I'm still deciding whether I should put Rachel Dawes into this story or not. (SO I NEED YOUR OPINION ASAPP)**

**Reviews are very much appreciated!!! **

**Jaime **


	17. Chapter 17

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

_

* * *

  
_

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 17_

_-_

After five hours of flight listening to three flight attendants garrulously chat in the corner, they finally arrived in America's Sin City, Vegas. Captain Price helped carry out all the luggages stored in the back, and Victoria stepped out of the airplane without hesitating. She took out her aviators, and tucked her purse securely under her right arm. She let the Indian summer air embrace her tense muscles, and waited patientely for her luggage. She scoffed thinking that Bruce would be still in the plane, kissing all three of them goodbye. Probably, giving them his number, so they could have foursome. In the pool, according to Kayla. Would that be even possible? Doing three girls in the tepid pool, filled with chlorine? Victoria contemplated whether that was physically possibly, and backed up a bit as she saw a gray Mercedes drive towards her. She saw a driver, around his early twenties get out. He was wearing his plaid red shirt and faded worn out jeans. He tossed the key to Bruce, who was running toward it to catch it without dropping.

"Thanks LJ-" He grabbed it with one hand, and waved at the younger kid.

"No prob, bro." He waved back and walked towards Victoria, who remained stoic with her arms crossed across her chest. "So, you gonna introduce me to this fine lady?" LJ grinned and winked at her. Since when were the college kids hitting on women turning thirty in a few years?

"Yeah, this is Victoria, my assistant. And, Victoria, this is LJ-"

"It's actually, Lance Junior. But, people call me LJ. I used to work for Bruce a couple months ago, and decided to come to Vegas." LJ offered his hand, and Victoria shook it gladly.

"Nice to meet you. I guess I'll see you later." She said, and got into the car, away from those two men standing outside. Bruce and LJ exchanged looks and waited for Captain Price to load all the suitcases.

"Ouch, that was cold. She could've given me a welcoming hug or something." LJ complained and turned around, so she couldn't see him whine through the window.

"Yep. I guess it didn't work this time." Bruce smirked and put his arm on the shorter man.

"She said she'd see me soon, right?" LJ elbowed Bruce and grinned.

"She said _'later'_. Not _soon_. Why?" He asked as he crossed his arms.

"Maybe she's into me? I do prefer some experienced, older women than some whores at my college. Or MILFs-"

"Not a chance kiddo. She's already taken." Bruce went around to the driver's seat as Captain shut the trunk.

"What? By who?" LJ followed him and thwarted him from getting into his car.

"Someone."

"Man, you have to teach me how to get some hot chicks. Don't know how you do it-" LJ gave him a desperate smile, and held onto him.

"We'll see you later kid." Bruce closed the door shut and drove away. LJ stood all by himself, and watched them disappear into mayhem.

* * *

Rachel Dawes was driving down the English Street in Gotham City. She was stuck in traffic, like all the other trucks and cars returning from work. She looked back at the address she got from Alfred last night on the phone. She has been away for two years, and resided in Washington D.C, and lectured undergraduates from Georgetown on criminology and forensic science. She worked as a part-time professor, and also worked with Washington D.C's district attorney, Jackson Grayman. She decided to come back early because she got a call from Harvey Dent, Gotham's new district attorney. She thought it'd be a better idea to come back earlier to be ready for a formal lunch date tomorrow with Harvey Dent and the Mayor.

Gotham City was still welcoming, and she noticed some new buildings, probably owned by Bruce Wayne, on the street. After finding a decent parking spot, she made her way to his penthouse, anxious and ecstatic to see Bruce again. As she pressed the elevator button, she reminisced the first and the last time he had kissed her, and told her that he had loved her his whole life. Her heart began to beat faster, as she got into the elevator. She remembered how she had told him that she'd wait for him until Gotham no longer needs Batman. She was still ready to have him back.

The elevator stopped and as it opened, she stepped into the kitchen, and found Alfred reading Gotham Daily by the counter. He saw Rachel standing, took off his reading glasses.

"Miss Dawes! I'm glad you're back. You must be so exhausted." Alfred gave her a hospitable hug and smiled.

"Alfred! I missed you so much!" She smiled back and couldn't stop laughing like a little girl. "So, where's Bruce?"

"Ah, I see. I'm sorry but he's away for five days." He discoved a disappointed remark on her face.

"That's...all right. I'll see him soon anyway." She forced a smile as she looked around the penthouse.

"You're more than welcome to stay here for the night. Have you got your apartment back?"

"Yes, yes. My friend took care of that already last week." She said.

"That's great. Now, would you like to stay for dinner? I have some roast chicken in the oven if you'd like some." Alfred opened the oven to check the chicken, and the tantalizing smell escaped into the air.

"I'd love to."

* * *

"So. What are we doing tonight, ?" That was the first sentence came out from her mouth. She seemed to have cleared off her mind, and They were walking down to the lobby, and she wasn't complaining about his arm around her waist.

"Well, our first round starts at eight, and I have to be in my tux, and I have a dress for you." He stopped at the counter, and gave her a killer smile.

"You do?" She asked, with a grin on her face. _'God, am I flirting with this man?' _She asked herself. But, she couldn't stop falling for his million dollar smirk.

"Of course-" He turned around at the manager waiting patiently at the counter and nodded.

"Hello sir, welcome to MGM Grand. May I have your name or your reservation number with an appropriate ID?" The manager kept a feign smile and watched Bruce take his ID and credit card out of his wallet.

"Um, it's Bruce Wayne, and I believe that I have two junior suites reserved under that name." He looked back at Victoria and gave her an assuaring smile.

"I'm sorry sir, I assume that there has been a mistake...Let me double check, because it seems to me that there has been a mess up between you and -" Bruce and Victoria frowned at the manager's words and waited for an update.

"I'm pretty sure I've made reservations-"

"Yes, I do understand, but it appears that your reservation has been erased from our data base, and the two junior suites are already taken by our customers." The manager looked up as he loosened his

pink bow tie. "But, since Mr. Wayne is one of our VIP customers, I can offer you one penthouse suite, if that is okay for both of you." He said.

"Wait, so you expect us to stay in one room?" She raised her voice at Bruce and the manager.

"Miss, there is a futon and a king-sized bed in the master room." The manager gave her a quizzical look, and glanced back at Bruce.

"Sure, we'll take that." He handed him his credit card and put his hand on her back.

* * *

**AN: I know,,I know,, it's a late update, but I'm supppper busy with college apps and stuff :)**

**I heard that Brittany Murphy passed away this afternoon and was DEVASTATED! I absolutely loved all her movies and she was one of my favs! :*(**

**If you were one of her fans, WRITE, (RIP BRITTANY MURPHY)!**

**I love revieeewws **

**MERRY CHRISTMAS 3**

**Jaime **


	18. Chapter 18

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 18_

Harvey Dent glanced at his black leather watch again and tried to focus on what James Eaves was saying to him. He was talking about his divorce case. Again. Harvey leaned back and rested his head against the leather chair. He couldn't stop thinking about what Kayla had said to him about Victoria eloping with Bruce Wayne to Vegas for a few days. Well, she actually said _'Your lover's running away with Bruce Wayne! Oh, did I also mention that they're gonna drink, gamble, and have sex like crazy? Hold on a sec, I'm gonna call her NOW. No, actually, I have to call her ASAP! Bye Harvey and please don't work too late! And I'll give you an update!'_ Then she hung up.

"Dent, are you all right? Are you even listening to me?" Eaves asked. He had this Wall Street-Big Firm-Five Million Dollar look and grin plasted all over his chubby face everytime he popped by Harvey's office. Eaves was a divorce attoney in Manhattan before he moved to Gotham, and now he works with the financial department here in the city. He said he moved here because things didn't work out so well with his now ex-wife.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just a bit tired, you know." Harvey replied. Yes, Eaves understood more than enough how lawyers suffer from A) Lack of Social Skills, B) Lack of Sleep, C) No Time For Girlfriends/Boyfriends-Therefore no sex whatsoever.

Eaves nodded and rubbed his evenly shaved chin. "Hey, I heard about what happened at the gala. That clown freak is out in the streets of Gotham and nobody gives a shit about it." He glanced at Harvey and coughed. "Well, I wouldn't say that it's none of my business but, I think you should...you know, focus on that Joker guy instead of those mobs."

"Mr. Eaves, I got this handled. I'm working on it." Harvey secretly hoped Eaves would just walk out that door and never stop by. The only reason he didn't mind seeing James is that he always brought free Starbucks: Cinnamon Dolce Latte-Extra syrup. "Just give me one more week and I'll catch that bastard."

Eaves gave him a satisfied grin and finished his macchiato. "So, have you met the new girl? The Assistant DA."

"No, why?" Harvey furrowed his brows and turned on his laptop to check if he got any work e-mails regarding his new assistant.

"Met her this morning. Nice, smart, Princeton preppy, but not my type." He shrugged and grinned at harvey. He got up from his chair and walked closer to Harvey's laptop screen. There it was, an email saying that his previous assistant had to call it quits because she had to go back to Montana to take care of her ill mother, and that she was sorry for leaving without a proper goodbye.

"Great, now I'm the only who doesn't know about this new girl, or the assistant DA-"

"Are you talking about me, Mr. Dent?" A slender brunette smiled as she stood by the door. Eaves coughed nonchalantly and said he had to go for lunch. (Even though it was only ten in the morning. What a great excuse.) "Sorry to barge in, but hi-" She stepped in his office. Her blazer fit just right, and her loose pencil skirt came down to her knees. Even though she was only wearing one of those flat-heels, she still was as tall as him. "Rachel Dawes. Your new assistant DA." She smiled again and shook his hand firmly and didn't lose the eye contact.

"Harvey Dent. Glad to meet you finally." Harvey said.

"Likewise, Mr. Dent. Now, where do we start?"

* * *

This was probably the first time Victoria never had to drag her suitcase up to her room. The doorman took all of their bags and placed them orderly in the carrier, and stood between Bruce and her like a barricade. The man led them to the very first suite around the corner and Bruce inserted the key. The red flash on the knob turned green and welcomed two fatigued Gotham natives. Bruce said thank you (probably for the first time as Victoria remembers.) and gave the doorman a twenty. She looked around the place and complimented as she looked at the spacious bedroom. A king-sized bed seemed more than comfortable and there was even a Jacuzzi in the bathroom. The suite was big enough, even bigger for two people. Bruce was busy checking the minibar, and when he was done finding two cold bottles of Corona, he handed one to Victoria.

"Cheers, and welcome to Vegas-" He took a small sip from his bottle and watched her as she looked around, trying to finding a missing piece of puzzle or something. "Is everything okay? Would you like a bigger room because I can you know...buy this hotel any minute-"

She let out a short laugh and shook her head. "No thank you, there's no need for a hotel or even a bigger room. It's just that, there's only one bed." She put the Corona aside and took off her heels. Gosh, they had been killing her for the past six hours.

"I'll take the couch-"

"Yeah but, that's definitely not going to be comfortable and you have a big day tomorrow." She looked at the printed schedule she brought with her. TODAY: 8PM- Opening Reception TOMORROW: 9AM- Breakfast with Marcus Heimen. 1PM- Shopping (Which technically isn't counted as 'work' but still, finding a perfect fitting shirt or blazer could take ages.) 6PM- Cocktail Party. 7PM- First Texas Hold'em Round. 9PM- An hour Break. 10PM- Second Round. Kayla was right: Lots of cocktails, gambling, and shopping. Minus the sex part.

"So, you do care about me, huh?" He was half-joking, but hoped that she'd say yes.

"It's my job. It's like I'm a babysitter. Except for the fact that you're a grown man, not a baby. And I don't get paid hourly." She just compared herself to a novice teenage babysitter. What the hell was she thinking? "I mean, you know. It's my job to make sure that you're okay and follow your...'busy' schedule." She bit her bottom lip.

"Right. I got it. When does the opening reception start tonight?" When he looked down at the bottle, he was halfway done his beer.

"That would start at eight." She said. And then there was the awkward silence between them. She looked at her clock and realized that she only had about an hour to look pretty and especially look like all the other lovely gals there. "Um, yeah so get ready. Well, I guess you can be 'fashionably' late this time."

He laughed and put his bottle beside hers. "I won't. And, you always do anyway, but I need you looking even more stunning tonight." He said.

"I'll do my best."

* * *

She showered until her fingertips were numb and wrinkly like a sweet pickle. Her legs were impeccably shaved (Not that anyone would see or touch them, but still. It's ALWAYS better to be prepared.), Her skin smelt like lavender and oatmeal bodywash, and her hair was damp but in good condition (a.k.a no split ends, dried roots, etc). She wrapped herself with a white towel and took out her black make-up box. Kayla packed some of the sample kits from Stilla, Bobby Brown, and MAC she got from work for this 'special' occasion. She used her toner and couldn't help but smile because that tiny pimple right on her cheek bone was gone without a scar. There was a soft knock on the door as she was putting lotion on her leg. She said to come in, and Bruce stood there with only a towel around his waist. She couldn't stop staring at his perfect abs and overall muscular figure. He did have some bruises and scars on his chest though, but she assumed that all the guys who work out rigorously would have one of those. Right?

"I brought you a dress. It should fit you perfectly-" He said. She stopped rubbing her leg in front of him and took the dress.

"Ha, now you know my size well. No wonder why." She teased. He chuckled and took small steps towards the door. "Hey, Bruce-" She said. He turned around and waited.

"Where did you get all those bruises and cuts?" She asked. He cleared his throat and repeated 'Uh...' for five seconds.

"From...rock climbing. And polo. Yeah, and I dropped a thirty pound dumbbell." He forced her smile and exited.

She continued applying peppermint lotion. _'Thirty pounds? Is he out of his mind?' _She then took her brush and combed her tangled hair. The dress looked impeccably clean and pressed from dry cleaning. It was a simple yet elegant violet gown. She was glad that it was strapless because those halter-top dresses always made her feel like someone could see through at a certain angle. Really!

It only took her about half an hour for hair and make-up. She definitely didn't want to look like those airhead bimbos and trophy wives at the reception. Her hair was in a loose bun, in a very natural way. She applied a bit of dark brown shadow, but used generous amount of liquid eyeliner and mascara. When she put some pink lipstick on her plump lips and sprayed her Anna Sui perfume, she was ready to zip up her dress. (Probably the hardest procedure.)

* * *

When she was out of the bathroom (She thanked god that they had two bathrooms), Bruce was in his black tuxedo looking sharper and more handsome than ever. He had his Blackberry in his hand, possibly texting or even web browsing. She took small steps towards him and smiled. "Can you zip up my dress?" She asked. Bruce put his phone away and checked her out from her toes to head. Her lashes and lips looked luscious, and she was holding the front of her gown. He nodded, and she turned around, revealing her soft bareback. The zipper was all the way down around her hip, and she helped him reach for it. He gently pulledthe zipper, and it did work until the mid-section of her back.

"Oh, shit-" She said and sucked in more air, regretting eating half of Kayla's apple pie. And a gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. (I bet this is most of our guilty pleasure!) Bruce chuckled and continued zipping using both of his manly hands. "It's not funny! I'm going to look like a fat pig."

"No, you won't." He assured her and was relieved as he zipped the whole thing without suffocating her so much. "Voila. You're set to go." He said. When she turned around, she looked almost like a goddess in that shiffon dress.

"How do I look?" She asked. There was nothing better than hearing that you're looking beautiful from a man. Especially a man like Bruce Wayne.

"Stunning. I knew you wouldn't disappoint." He grinned and offered an arm.

"That's good to hear, but this is a bad luck, you know. Not fitting right to your dress." She said. She took his arm and walked to the door. Halfway there, Bruce deftly guided her to the glass wall by the couch. Her back shivered as the cold surface touched her bare skin. His hands settled around her lower waist and he leaned in without giving her a second to prepare. His lips landed on her soft ones and they stayed like that for a while. His kiss was intoxicating and couldn't be compared to all the ones from her past lovers. She wrapper her arms around his neck and brushed his hair lightly. She never knew that his hair would be this soft (perhaps softer than hers). She gladly kissed him back and let out a soft moan as his hands traveled lower to her butt. She wanted to taste him more, but he pulled away before she did.

"Now, that was for good luck." He said. She closed her eyes hoping this moment would freeze, and pulled him closer to her and kissed him first this time. She was sort of worried that her pink lipstick would smudge and leave marks on his face, but she was busy savoring every single moment.

She pulled away this time, but he was busy finding her spot on her neck. "Bruce- We're gonna be late." She said. He stopped and glanced at his Rolex.

"Fashionably late." He smirked and continued.

* * *

**AN: Oh my, it has been FOREVER! I'm so so so sorry, I've been busy (well not so much lately) working in NEW YORK CITY! I interned at a law firm and I finally got back from Manhattan :D I didn't forget about this fanfic, so I made this chapter extra longer and better! (especially the last scene!)**

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, YOUR REVIEWS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE MY POWERHOUSE! **

**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW AND SUBSCRIBE! **

**XXX**

**Jaime**


	19. Chapter 19

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 19_

Rachel Dawes was trying to savor every moment of her late dinner. She picked up a warm piece of baguette and buttered the top. As a waiter with salt-and-pepper beard poured iced water into her glass, she asked for a lemon wedge and continued flipping through the case file Harvey had given her this morning. The file indicated that there's a new guy on the streets of Gotham, and one civilian had already been kidnapped and is still missing. She frowned and continued skimming through the articles. When she was near the bottom page, there was a post-it note from Harvey saying, _'Victoria Owen is the new victim. I don't find much correlation, but I think Joker's targeting random citizens. Maybe you can look into that. -Dent.'_ She didn't even know who this so-called next target was. She took the note and threw it in her purse.

Harvey Dent was a good man: smart, witty, hard working, and trustworthy. It didn't take Rachel long to recognize his charismatic qualities. It has been only three days working with that man, but she felt very comfortable looking over dozens of cases everyday and night with him. Rachel knew more than enough that she didn't have patience and time for a boyfriend. Maybe Harvey won't be so bad since he would understand how time consuming and difficult her job is.

The waiter came back with three freshly cut lemon and lime wedges and put it by the bread basket. "Are you ready to order, miss?" He asked.

"Yes, I'd like to have escargot with extra garlic butter and smoked salmon salad please." She said and handed him the menu. Ever since she was little, she had been a huge fan of rich French cuisine- So today, she decided to dine out at L'ASPANCE. It was almost like Balthazar, a top-notch French restaurant in New York, but less crowded and didn't have to make reservations months prior. Plus she was alone without a dinner date and a bottle of fine wine. She preferred it that way because she didn't have to feel so self conscious about talking with food in her mouth (sadly, it's still her habit.), or taking bigger bites than usual.

She remembered last time Bruce had taken her out here for her 28th birthday. On the way here, he was busy teasing her that she only had two more years of her young 20s and that she should find 'the one' before it becomes too late. Bruce and Rachel both secretly hoped each other to admit that they'd be perfect together. Or at least if he's with her, his secret would be safe with her. A few days after she found out about Bruce's secret identity as Gotham's Dark Knight, she didn't hesitate driving down to the burnt down manor to see him. It was a mess. She spotted Bruce, picking up some remnants off the ground, and that was the day he kissed her for the very first time. It was so dearly and sweet that she got lost in his maze. She told him that they could be together when Gotham no longer needed Batman. He nodded and held her for ten more minutes.

The situation changed a bit when she told him that she's leaving for D.C for a while. She told him she'd be back after two weeks. He seemed shocked and disappointed that he won't be seeing her for a while. So he told her he'd call her everyday and even drive down all the way to D.C. Then, the two weeks became two months, and eventually became two years. When she was finally back from her long trip, her phone indicated zero calls, messages, emails, and voice mails from him. But she didn't want to believe it.

She cleared off her mind by gulping down iced water, and dialed his number. The ringing sound vibrated louder against her eardrum as she waited more and more. And of course, it went straight to his voice mail. She inhaled all the air she could take and decided to leave a message.

_'Hi...It's me, Rachel. You barely write back when I text, so I'm leaving you a voice mail. I just want to let you know that I'm back. Yay. Are you busy now? Please pick up. I know you're not working, Bruce. You're never working. Anyway, Alfred told me that you're away for a while. Hum...well, what I really wanted to say is that...I miss you. A lot. Come by my place anytime. Well, actually I'm busy all week and it's probably not a very good time. Maybe next Saturday? If I'm not busy, I mean. Oh, and I got a new job as Gotham's Assistant D.A...Anyway, call me back.'_

When her food arrived, she put her phone away and put the white napkin on her lap. It was time for her to eat, not to worry.

* * *

She was feeling giddy like a naive school girl. The kisses they shared on the way and in the elevator gave her more thrill than the ones they had back in the room. He guided her to the corner of the elevator, and admired her like a real gentleman unlike many frat boys she encountered in her life. He gently stroked her thighs while kissing, and constantly told her that she was perfect for him. Even though she was wearing a pair of five inch Manolos, she had to be on her tippy-toes to reach his elevator stopped more than five times before getting them to the lobby, but they didn't seem to care who else was watching them in the elevator that much. They were busy touching every inch, and it felt like a secret love affair.

Gladys Dubois, a fifty year old entrepreneur greeted both Bruce and Victoria by the entrance. She was in a rather conservative outfit (beige pencil skirt and silk blouse with padded black blazer. Oh, not to mention a pair of thick black stockings.), but her make-up and hair were beyond par. Her sandy blonde hair was curled to perfection, and the blue eyeshadow she wore really emphasized her aquamarine eyes.

"Oh my, look who's here! The Great Bruce Wayne. You look so much like your dad now." She seemed overly excited to see Bruce and kissed his cheeks. You know, the French way.

"I'm so glad to be here, Mrs. Dubois. Oh, this is Victoria. Victoria, this is Gladys Dubois-"

"Please, call me Gladys, Victoria. Lovely dress!" She said as she gently shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Gladys. Thanks for inviting us-" Victoria felt his arm climbing up to her waist tighter and gave him a signal to stop. He discarded it, and kissed her forehead without any hesitation.

"Oh, I guess I'll leave you two lovebirds alone now! Oh, and drinks are no longer complementary since you guys are 45 minutes late. Sorry about that, Bruce!" Gladys apologized and continued. "Victoria, I'm...loving the hair. It's very...natural and...all over the place...in a good way! Anyway, I gotta go!" Then she left.

Victoria took out her phone and checked her hair through the reflection. Her supposedly 'loose-but-tidy' bun had fell and her brown hair was falling down. "Urgh, Bruce! I told you not to touch the hair-" She complained.

"I love your hair like that. You look so wild and sexy-"

"I wasn't even targetting for that look! I'm gonna fix it now." She said. She found a couch by a very tacky inflatable palm tree, and Bruce was gone to get them drinks. While she was sitting down, she fixed the top part of her dress and her hair. He had been playing with her hair this whole time even though he knew that she spent fifteen minutes doing that bun. He kept telling her that he likes it wild, and played with it even more after. Everyone else was busy talking with champagne flutes and cocktail glasses in their hands. One group of young women (possibly teens with trust funds) over there were talking about the new Ferragamo collection and Betsey Johnson earrings, and another group of middled aged men talked about how they were 'fit and hot' back in the day.

Minutes later, Bruce finally showed up with two glasses: patron, extra cold with lime for him and a girly apple martini for her. He took a seat beside her and handed her a glass. "To the most beautiful lady in this room-" He said and made her laugh.

"Sweet talker. Well, look at my hair. I still look like a jungle woman." She pointed at her loose bun.

He took a sip of patron and put his arm around her. "I told you, I love it wild." He smirked and watched her apply pink lipstick on her bruised lips.

"So, do you know anybody here?" She asked. Bruce looked around and nodded.

"Some of them. Look, I played golf with that big guy once and it was the worst experience of my life. And...um, I dated that girl Peter Tan is with right now. She was a sweet girl...but it didn't work out." He sighed and continued to drink. Victoria looked at the girl with big dark hair (almost bigger than Amy Winehouse and Snooki's combined). Her orange, not-so-sunkissed skin was a perfect example of tanning bed complication. She was in a short neon colored dress that could've been worn at a club.

"Why?" She asked. I mean, how many questions can you ask about your soon-to-be boyfriend's past lovers? Well, Victoria didn't want to ask if she were a better kisser, has softer skin, or good in bed.

"It didn't take that long to realize that she was only in love with my money and fame. That's it." He said and looked at her sincerely. She nodded and continued drinking. "Hey-"

"Huh?" She waited.

"I don't think there's gonna be much going on tonight, so do you want to go...for a swim?" He asked. Billionaire Bruce Wayne asking to go swimming. He's either being childish (or really wants to go swimming) or has a plan behind this.

"It's better than sitting here, right?" She emptied her glass with a sated look and left with the man.

* * *

They didn't kiss in the elevator this time. Or on the way to their room. But, he still had his arm around her lower back and it kept going lower, so Victoria had to pull his arm up constantly. He'd respond by winking and smiling. She couldn't wait to get out of this dress; not that it was uncomfortable, but she certainly didn't feel right in it. She opened her suitcase and was glad to find her favorite white bikini, and was more than happy that she didn't bring that maroon colored American Apparel one piece. (Now, that would not have been romantic. AT ALL.) She stripped down and began to put on the bottom. Bruce was getting into his trunk probably in the bathroom by the giant TV. She glanced at her phone by the night stand and saw seven missed calls from Kayla. SEVEN. 'Urgh, can't she just leave me alone?' She thought to herself. She dialed the number, but knew that Kayla was going to talk about sex, sex, orgasm, and more sex. Oh, and how Victoria needs some lovin'. After hearing it ring only twice, Kayla answered. (She probably waited by the phone.)

"Tell. Me. Everything. NOW. I'm sitting here enjoying Ben and Jerry's, absolutely doing nothing. Now, don't ask if I'm okay or not, just talk about yourself for once." Kayla said. She sounded out of her breath.

"Ohhhkay, slow down there. First of all, it's great to know that you're having fun on your own-"

"Shut up! Just tell me if he fucked you or not! Or is he going to now?" Kayla giggled with a plastic spoon in her mouth.

"Um, well...Bruce and I are...I don't know." She said. Victoria finished putting on the top and the bottom. She stood in front of the mirror making sure everything was perfect.

"What? How can you not know? You're so stupid. It's almost like that time in high school when you lost your v-card to a drunk slob at the bar."

"Can we not talk about that? Bruce and I kissed. No, made out. That's it. And, we're going for a swim-"

"Ooh lala! Make sure to rubber his expensive ducky. How big is he anyway?" She asked.

"Kayla! I don't know how big Bruce's dick is-" Victoria yelled and she regretted the moment she saw Bruce standing by the door. "I mean- Obviously, I don't know. You know what, I'll call you back. Bye." She hung up.

"Uh...Ready?" He asked. It was worse than that awkward silence in the middle of a conversation. She nodded and grabbed the clean towel from her bed.

"Listen, I wasn't talking about...you know. It's just that my friend-" She was blushing. He chuckled and wrapped her in his arms tight.

"Really. Would you like to know?" He joked. She shook her head and kissed his cheek.

* * *

**AN: WOOHOO! This was a quick update :) I'm so happy to continue this story and thank god I have more time to write!**

**You know the drill: READ, REVIEWWW, SUBSCRIBE (If you haven't)**

**PLS REVIEW!**

**Jaime.**


	20. Chapter 20

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any characters that belong to DC Comics. However, I do own all the original characters._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 20_

Harvey Dent wasn't able to shut his eyes and fall asleep. He searched through his liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of whisky and a glass. It was unusual that Harvey relied on alcohol to stay calm, but tonight was an exception. He put three ice cubes in his glass and poured the liquor down; he wasn't a huge fan of the bitter after taste of whiskey, so he aways drank it on the rocks. It diluted the poison, and relaxed his tense nerve endings. To be completely honest, he couldn't get Victoria out of his mind; her smile, scent, laughter, and the way she hugged and kissed him in the cheeks gave him chills through his spine. Back in college, she was the typical girl next door and gave out homemade cookies to everyone every Thursday with her sorority sisters after her economics class. Some frat guys would always hit on Victoria and she'd send them away with bags of cookies instead of her number.

Harvey first met Victoria through his roommate, Matthew Jansen. Matt was an all-star swimmer; won twenty trophies, sixty-four gold medals, and fifteen championship banners. When he first met Harvey at the orientation, he told him hyperbole stories how he swam across the Hudson River and biked his way to Gotham. Oh, and how he swam 20km in the Bermudian ocean full of sharks. He wasn't in fraternity, but he occasionally attended notorious weekend frat parties with Harvey (only if Harvey wasn't at the library studying). Everytime they went, Matt would approach a few girls and bring them to Harvey because he was always the quiet one sipping on light beer in the corner. Matt would always introduce the girls to Harvey, and compliment how Harvey graduated first back in high school. That eventually made Matt look like the 'good' guy, and he was the one to go back to the dorms with the girls. Harvey never hated Matt for taking all the girls away him; he actually wanted to learn how to be a subtle sweet talker like the champion.

The situation changed when Matt brought Victoria to their room; there were a few boxers on the floor, empty beer and coke bottles, and leftover Dominos on the table. Harvey was working on his final dissertation for Professor Larkin when Matt sat her down on his bed and started kissing and ravishing her like a pig sans manners. Victoria broke it off and formally introduced herself to Harvey. She told him how Matt had told her 'everything nice' about him and how she saw him a few times in her economics class. Although he had never seen her before, he nodded and told her she could stop by anytime if she had any questions.

She began stopping by to say hi and ask a few questions since then; Matt occasionally complained that she's seeing Harvey too often, but she told him that she needed Harvey's help to pass so she could come back next year. Harvey got to know her better when they started hanging out and doing study sessions together at the library. Unlike Victoria who never ever talked about her boyfriend to Harvey, Matt always talked about Victoria; whenever she wasn't around, Matt would tell Harvey how great she is in bed and that he's taking her to his summer house in the Hamptons to bang her all weekend. Their relationship lasted two more weeks, and the Hamptons mini-break never happened.

While Harvey was pouring more brown liquor into his cold glass, he heard a loud knock on his door. He put the bottle away and opened the door; it was Rachel.

"Hi. Got a minute?" She asked. Harvey nodded and gestured her to come in. She was in a pastel colored shirt with a pair of washed out jeans, and her sleek hair was in a tidy ponytail and she took out a folder from her purse.

"I'm sorry to barge in, but I thought you'd like to see this." Rachel handed him a mugshot of a man in his late 50s and continued. "His name's Richard Owen. Also known as Richie O. among the scums of Gotham. He's a 59 year old cocaine addict currently getting treated at Arkam Asylum."

"Are you saying that this case is related to Vic's dad?" He asked.

"Not 100% sure, but I found out that he did work for Salvatore Maroni and made a deal-" She paused and looked right in his blue eyes. "Giving away his daughter for a lifelong supply of coke and other drugs. And possibly the Joker is working with Maroni."

"Wait, what? How the hell did you find out about this?"

"It's not that hard to spot Maroni, Mr. Dent. Oh, and the online tracking device system at the office is quiet useful to dig out all the personal information-" She quipped. "Now, we have to get Miss Owen and bring her to somewhere safe." She said.

"Well, she's not here right now. She's...in Vegas with that prick." He said and offered her a glass of iced water.

"May I ask who?" Rachel asked after taking gulping down the gelid liquid.

"You know...Uh-"

"No, I don't. That's why I'm asking." She replied.

"Bruce Wayne." He said and Rachel began to crack up.

"I've been friends with Bruce since I was little, and he's not a prick. He may act like one in public, but he's actually a sweet guy-"

"That's what Victoria told me, but I think he's still a prick." He said. He finished his second glass of whisky and put the glass away.

"Right. Anyway, I should go. Bruce hasn't answered his phone yet, so I probably going to call him again soon. He should know how things are going, you know."

"Yes, please do so. I'll call Vic and let her know about her father. I'll see you at work tomorrow." He said and escorted her to the door.

* * *

Instead of taking her to the public outdoor pool, he led the way to the private patio only for the people staying at the penthouse suites. He paid extra five grand or so to the hotel maintenance crew just to make sure that other guests won't be able to use the private pool and a jacuzzi while they were staying. He felt kind of guilty because he didn't tell Victoria that he anticipated and 'planned' evenings for them. When they got to the patio, drinks were ready, dim Christmas lights were up, and the fences were up as well (making it very private). She turned around and kissed his chin and rested her arms around his neck.

"First of all, how much money did you spend so that none of the guests could use this area? And secondly, did you know this was going to happen? Us?" She asked. She was half-joking, but didn't lose that serious look on her face. He didn't know what to say. She was a smart woman and knew that even a man like Bruce Wayne had to ask and book in advance.

"I just booked a pool and jacuzzi. That's all." He said. "And- I want to get to know you better. I want to be with you." He wanted her to believe that he had true feelings for her, and she drove him crazy everytime she called his name. He fantasized about her, and dreamed about her quite to be honest. The only way he could really get close to her was watching her sleep at night while he was in his batsuit.

"Ohhkay." She rolled her eyes and jumped on him. Her legs were wrapped around his leg, but she was too light to knock him out. She kept on laughing and brushed her hair with her fingers. "So, Mr. Wayne. Let's see how strong you are." She teased. "Not too many guys were able to carry me around without sweating."

He chuckled and carried her to the pool. The pool was heated to the perfect temperature and Victoria let out a soft moan when her feet were under water. He carried her to the middle of the pool, and eventually took her by the wall. "Um...the pool feels nice." She said.

"Yeah. I'm so glad you're here with me." He said. She smiled back and wrapped her legs around him tighter.

"Bruce-" She said softly. "You know I can't really swim, right? So if you drop me now, I'll drown." She joked.

"Trust me on that." He assured her. He felt her plump breasts against his chest, and tried his best to stay calm. He sucked on her soft spot again and made her moan even more.

"We should play a game. How about Truth or Dare?" She asked.

"Fine. I'm gonna start." He said. She nodded and told him to go for it. "Truth or Dare?" He asked.

"Truth."

"Hum...Your first high school crush?" He asked. It really sounded like he didn't have anything to ask her.

"That's a lame question. That would be the lab technician on the second floor. His name was Matthew Pollock and had the nicest smile." She said. "Now, Truth or Dare?"

"...Truth." He said. Her legs tightened and she held on to him more.

"Fine. Since you asked me a lame question, I'm going to ask you an embarassing one." She said.

"Oh lord," He chuckled.

"Have you ever-" She paused and whispered in his ear. "fantasized about me?" She asked. Even herself thought it was a very bold question. What kind of a girl asks her boss if he fantasizes about her?

"Well, define 'fantasize' for me." He said. She bit her bottom lip and pretended to think for a sec. Shit. She didn't have an answer.

"Uh...like, you know. Think how I'd look...naked. Or on top of you or...you know." She blushed. She couldn't believe what she just said, and his expression was even more priceless. Bruce didn't say a word for at least ten seconds and finally opened his mouth.

"Yeah, all the time." He said casually. She could not believe that he had been imagining how she looks sans clothes. Maybe he was just joking, you know. "My turn, truth or dare?"

"Um, dare this time." She answered. Her face had been heating up since they got into this pool and her breaths got heavier when his hand traveled down to her thighs.

"Fine. Take off your bikini top." He said. This time, his eyes were hungry and he wasn't kidding. All she did was let out short laughs and repeat, 'You're kidding, right?' He shook his head and repeated, 'I'm serious.'

"Fine. Only for five seconds." She said. When she reached for the knot in the back, she felt a bulge in his trunk and she slowed down untying the knot. "My, my. Look who's horny here-" She teased. When the knot was undone, she pulled the top off as slow as she could. She still covered her hardened nipples with her arm and let the other arm wrap around his neck.

"God, you're beautiful." He said. He kissed her hard this time that she had to use both of her arms to hold on to him. Her breasts were let free and she couldn't stop moaning when they were roughly moving up and down against his chest. His hands traveled from her thighs to her breasts, and he massaged both of them dearly. "Sorry- I should stop." His breaths were heavier, but she didn't mind.

"No, no. Please continue-" She begged and rested her hand on his chest.

"Victoria-"

"Bruce, just stop this nonsense- and fuck me." She said and both of them remained silent for a while.

"Don't you think we're a bit too early for this? You'll regret it in the morning and I don't want that to happen. I want us to happen." He said. He grabbed the bikini top and slowly put in on her. She was definitely frustrated, but Bruce was right and respectful. He wasn't like any other guys who just wanted some quickie.

"You're right. We should wait-" She said and kissed him. Bruce slowly walked away from the wall and carried her back to the table where the towels were. He grabbed her towel and dried her off. "Bruce-" She asked.

"Yes?"

"You really thought I didn't notice when you were staring at my butt at the office, huh?" Bruce froze and stood there without covering it up with an excuse. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. "Ready to go back?" She asked and the couple made their way back to the room.

* * *

**AN: Yay! I'm done with the 20th chapter! *kudos* Haha, and I'd like to thank all the readers, subscribers, and reviewers for making this long journey possible! If it wasn't your support, I wouldn't have been able to write this much!**

**Thank you again and don't forget to REVIEW! I love reading them and happy reading everyone!**

**Hugs,**

**Jaime**


	21. Chapter 21

_**Disclaimer: **I own what's mine._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 21_

When she opened her eyes, she saw Bruce sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling at her and mouthing 'good morning'. He was already dressed, wearing a plain, tight white shirt and a pair of dark jeans. He leaned towards her and lied down beside her. She slowly got up and pulled her damp hair back, as she picked up her Blackberry and checked the time. It was already one in the afternoon, and Victoria realized that they missed the breakfast AND shopping. She groaned and lied back down.

"Tired much? Did you sleep well?" He smirked and his hand traveled up from her thigh to her waist.

"We missed breakfast with Mr. Heimen…and I guess we have to go 'shopping' now? I'm sorry I slept in-" She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She had missed him overnight. As promised, Bruce took the couch and Victoria slept in the oversized bed on her own.

"I did go to breakfast…Sorry, I didn't want to wake you up, Sleeping Beauty. Oh, but I still need you to help me pick out some dress shirts." He began to kiss her neck and soon, her lips.

"You're such a sweet talker, you know that?" She placed her palm on his cheek and began to rub it gently. "And, how was breakfast?"

"Formal. Boring. It was all right."

"How come? I thought you were close friends with Mr. Heimen." She asked. Bruce shrugged and started to play with her curls.

"Well, we knew each other back in college. Was in the rowing team with him."

"Rowing? I never knew Bruce Wayne could row like a pro." She giggled and pulled a strand of hair back.

"Yeah, I had to play a varsity sport to get recruited. I was kind of a big shot, you know." He chuckled.

"I guess you still are." She paused. "And how was meeting your old friend so boring?"

"The conversation topic wasn't that engaging, after all…" He paused and waited until more questions were asked.

"I see…you don't like when people talk business, commerce, um or fiscal ability one should possess-"

"It was nothing about business." Victoria raised her brow and asked him what they talked about. "It was mainly about girls Marcus had dated, and he suggested how I should introduce some of the model friends I have to him."

"Hum, and this is Bruce Wayne talking and calling his friend shallow?" She teased. He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Okay, I'm not that bad." He shot back. He could see her feign a smile. It wasn't such a smooth move talking about his 'model friends'. He knew that she was well aware of his 'playboy persona', and how he 'dated' countless models.

"Bruce, can I ask you something private? And I need you to be honest with me."

"Anything." He answered and held her closer.

"Did you really-" She paused and looked him in the eyes for reassurance. "Sleep with all the models you've dated? I mean, did you-"

"No, I did not. Most of them just tagged along when I was attending galas and formal dinners. That's it." Then, he leaned towards her and kissed her gently. Her hands brushed his sleek hair as he deepened the kiss. His hands were securely around her waist, and after a few seconds, one of them traveled to her breast.

"Bruce-" She said as she pulled away. "I guess we'll have to wait and see how committed you can be, Billionaire Playboy-" She teased and rolled him over. She was soon on top of him, only wearing a beige pink night gown. His eyes ignited as she slowly untied the knot.

"Wow-" She giggled as his hands rested on her waist. She soon revealed the navy blue matching bra and panties she wore. She pulled her hair back, and gently brushed the valley between her breasts. He automatically sat up and kissed her while holding her tightly.

"Bruce- I'm going to shower and be ready." She said. He nodded and released her.

* * *

When they got to the department store, it was only two o'clock. It took her less than half an hour get ready. She put on a bit of make-up and some mousse in her damp hair. Bruce had his hand securely around her waist and constantly planted kisses on her cheek and neck. Not so many people seemed to recognize two Gothamites, and Bruce didn't have to wear a pair of sunglasses to make sure nobody recognized him. They stopped by Mont Blanc to get some dress shirts, and it didn't take so long for Bruce to find a perfect shirt. His muscular figure didn't require any alteration, and he fitted perfectly in all the shirts and blazers he tried on. She loved and envied how he looked so good in everything he tried on; it wasn't too hard spotting clerks giving him the "would you like my number? I'm single" look.

"So, are we done here? That was quick." She asked.

"Ah, I think there's one more stop I need to make-" He said. "And, I'd prefer to go on my own. If you don't mind. It shouldn't take me that long."

"Um, okay. I'll just wait at the coffee shop down the hall." She said. He winked at her and walked away from her with all his shopping bags.

She felt almost empty that he had to 'go somewhere private', but was relieved in a way that she had free time sans Bruce. She power walked to the shop and ordered a white chocolate raspberry cookie (which was as big as her palm), and a French vanilla with whipped cream on top. When she finally sat down and took a sip of warm drink, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse. She rummaged through her disorganized bag, and clicked the answer button; it was him.

"Hello?" She answered.

"So, I guess you're not dead." Harvey said. He sounded rather sardonic to hear her voice. Victoria was dumbfounded by his tone, and took another sip of her coffee.

"Harv, I miss you terribly! How are things in Gotham?"

"Things are different. Listen, I don't want you to get me wrong, but I think you should come back soon." She furrowed her brows at his suggestion.

"Why? Well, I'll be back in a few days anyway. You shouldn't worry too much, I feel safe here."

"Vic, it's not that. You know the Joker's targeting you next, and he can get you anytime. I'd feel much better if you stayed with me for awhile. For security reasons, of course. Not that I want you to move in with me for my own good."

"Can we talk about that later? I'm still hungover and I woke up only an hour ago-"

"I worry about you! How can you not understand that I care about you?" His voice got louder, so she had to lower the speaker level. Ever since that time he asked her out, things kind of got weird. She barely spoke to him after, and when he texted her, she'd respond but two or three days later.

"Harvey. I understand that you care a lot about me. And I care about you too. I want to go back and…see you again. Like the old times." She lied. Well, she did care about him, but she wasn't ready to go back and face her trepidation again.

"Like the old times…sounds good. So, how is it?" He asked.

"Good. And busy. But, Bruce and I are having a great time." She said. Harvey was silent for a few seconds and let out a big sigh.

"You and Bruce? That prick-"

"He's a nice man. You don't even know him, Harv." She shot back. When she turned back at the entrance, she spotted Bruce with two more shopping backs. She waved and smiled.

"Well, I'm glad that you're having fun. Anyway, I have work to do. I really have to talk to you once you get back."

"I'll call you as soon as I get there. I love you." She said. Harvey hung up just after saying goodbye and Bruce was already sitting down facing her.

"So, who do you love again?" He half-joked. He was eavesdropping on her conversation since she stated saying "He's a nice man,"

"It's just Harvey. He's really worried about me." She said. His heart twitched after hearing that she had been talking to Harvey. Not that he hasn't been talking to Rachel over the trip (well, only once after hearing her 'sincere' voicemail).

"Ah, I see. Tell him to stop worrying. You're having fun, right?"

"I'm pretty convinced I am. Is tonight going to be like last night?" She tried to hold back a smile as hard as she could. He chuckled and held up one of the shopping bags.

"Speaking about tonight, I got you something." He said.

"Hum, let me guess; a dress?"

"Wrong. I'll give it to you when the time is right." He smirked and took a piece of her cookie. She took the mug still full of coffee and gulped down the caffeine.

"Wow, this cookie must contain lots of…sugar, butter, and-"

"I'm sorry I don't 'eat' like your model friends, Bruce." She said. "Or, that I'm not tiny and emaciated like them." She rolled her eyes.

"Look, I didn't mean to offend you or anything-"

"I get it. You were just 'saying'." She smiled at him.

"Right. Well, you're perfect you know-" He said. She finally laughed out loud, and made him feel much comfortable. "Like from what I've seen so far, I'm not complaining at all."

"Oh, you're sweet talking again!" His comment just made her feel less self-conscious about herself.

"I'm not. I'm just being honest."

* * *

**AN: I just wish every single guy on earth is just like Bruce :) But, that's never going to be feasible ahha.**

**So, I'm sorry for the late update! I've been soo busy lately with college apps :O**

**PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW. REVIEW. SVP!**

**Love,**

**Jaime**


	22. Chapter 22

_**Disclaimer: **I own what's mine._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 22_

"I'll have another, please." Victoria was already finished with a glass of extra cold gin and tonic. She took out a ten dollar bill from her clutch, and handed it to the bartender. She glanced at her Blackberry and it was close to midnight. Her eyelashes fluttered and her lips covered in red lipstick eventually parched. She had three missed calls from Kayla (somehow not a big surprise), two text messages from Harvey (apologizing for his comments about Bruce), and one voice mail from Lucius Fox, asking her if things are going well. Within a minute, the waiter placed a crisp napkin on the table and a cold glass of gin and tonic beside it. She stirred the drink a few times, and asked for a fresh lime wedge.

Bruce was busy playing Texas Hold'em. Well, at least he "seemed very attentive," while sipping on his glass of Jack on the rocks. He occasionally stared at her, and winked and smirked if her eyes met his. The poker table was at the center of the ballroom, and there were smaller mini-poker game tables around it. The room was packed with entrepreneurs, financial accountants, motivation speakers, and so on. Bruce was sitting across from the dealer, and he was the big blind this time. Victoria decided to sit at the bar and wait until he was done with the fourth round. When she was almost done with her second glass, a tall, blond man possibly in his late 20s or early 30s walked towards her. He took out a twenty from his pocket and waited for the bartender.

"Can I get a single-malt?" Marc Smith asked. He was dressed like one of those young businessmen who were "hanging out" and playing rounds. He turned his head towards Victoria and smiled. "I guess you're having a rough night?" He asked.

"Not quite. Just waiting for my boss to finish the round." She emptied her glass and the bartender took it from her.

"Oh really, that must be very boring. Here, may I join you?" He asked as he pulled out a chair beside hers. She nodded and he took his seat and whiskey. "I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Marc. Marc Smith." He offered a hand and shook hers gracefully.

"I'm Victoria. Nice to meet you, Mr. Smith." She said.

"Please, call me Marc. Can I get you another drink? You look like you need another one." He took a small sip of whiskey and turned his chair towards her.

"I shouldn't be drinking too much. And it's getting late." She turned away and pretended to check her phone again. She didn't mind having a conversation with this quite charming man, but she didn't intend on flirting with another man.

"Did your boss tell you not to drink?" He teased. She let out a dry laugh put her phone back in her clutch.

"No, it's not that. I think I had enough." She smirked and held back her smile. Smith was surely attractive; wasn't too buff or tall, but he had that boyish smile that all the girls would fall for.

"Not even a glass of champagne with a berry?" He insisted until he saw a smile appearing on her face.

"Um, fine. Sure, I'd love to." He prevailed. He gave another twenty to the waiter.

"So, I assume you're here on a business trip?"

"Yea, sort of. I actually came here with my boss because he was invited and he needed a company."

"And who is this 'boss' guy?" He chuckled.

"It's Bruce Wayne. I don't know if you know him, but-"

"Wayne? As in Brucie Wayne? My god! I never knew he was here." He said. Her glass of champagne and strawberry floating on top arrived.

"Maybe he didn't tell you. So, I guess you know him."

"Of course! Well, we went to Princeton together until he dropped out for no reason. We used to row together. Oh, and he dated pretty much all the models I work with." Victoria rolled her eyes, but maintained her composure.

"You're a designer?" She brushed her curled hair with her fingers.

"Not quite. I'm a photographer. Usually shoot for Vanity Fair, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, and sometimes Vogue…only when I'm not in a fight with Anna Wintour." He said dryly.

"Wow, I'm impressed. So, you do a lot of fashion shoots?"

"Usually. And lingerie shoots as well. I surely don't do those god awful wedding photos." He chuckled. "So, you're from Gotham, right?"

"Yes, born and raised." She took another sip of champagne. "It's not as bad as it sounds."

"That's great. I've been there a few times to shoot some 'urban jungle' stuff. I had a great time." He paused. "Well, I think I might be going back there for a week or so."

"Really? That's great. You'll love it because it's cold but pretty in the winter with all the snow we get." She smiled.

"Listen, I have to ask you something…regarding my 'visit'." He asked.

"Okay, what is it?"

"I need to shoot a ten page editorial for Vanity Fair's January issue, and the topic I chose was Modern Women. And I mean, _real_ women. Not the skinny models and stuck-up socialites you see in the magazines."

"That sounds brilliant! I'm pretty sure there are different venues in Gotham you can shoot those right?" She asked.

"Uh, well…I'm already done shooting six pages in Manhattan and Santa Barbara. I need someone to pose for four pages, and I think you'd be perfect. So, what do you say?"

"Wow, I really don't know what to say. I never posed or anything before and, I don't even know how to-"

"Victoria, you'll be great. As I said before, it's Modern Women. You're a natural beauty and photographers like me-" He paused. "Dig your look." He said. She was definitely flattered by his comments and request, but at the same time, she was overwhelmed to be on a prominent magazine. I mean, this is VANITY FAIR he was talking about. Not some small-time city magazines.

"I might be able to do it. But, yes, I really think your idea is original." Victoria smiled and glanced back at Bruce, who was supposedly still busy. Instead, he was sauntering down the hall towards the bar with an empty glass. She waved, and waited for his response: nothing.

"Look who's here. Marcky Smith." Bruce shook his hands firmly and placed the empty glass between Victoria and Marc.

"Man, Bruce Wayne. I heard you were hooking up with Melissa Benilas. Nice job. And great ass." Bruce tensed and frowned a bit, and wrapped his arm around Victoria's waist as Marc's eyes followed.

"Nah, not really. She isn't my type." He then leaned down towards her and kissed her passionately and with a bit of force. Her arms rested on his chest, and every time she tried to pull away, he didn't let her.

"Woah, Brucie let me at least finish the conversation with this fine young lady. You tend to take all the good stuff-" Bruce finally pulled away and whispered in her ear that he'd come back in a minute.

"I'm…sorry about that-" She apologized.

"It's fine. Classic Wayne, you know." He said satirically. "Are you guys dating or is this a one-time weekend fling?"

"Marc, I don't appreciate how you deride Bruce like that. He's a nice man." She said as she put her lipstick back in her clutch. "And it's complicated."

"I'm so sorry. I was just you know, used to mocking Wayne." He finished his drink and eyed her from the black Manolos she was wearing to the valley between her breasts. "I'd be damn tempted as well if I worked with you." He paused as she put a feigned smile.

"Okay, well I think I should go to my room and get some rest."

"Anyway, please call me once you get back. We'll talk about it thoroughly with the editor, and it'd be my pleasure to work with you in the future. And I mean it, Victoria." He handed her his business card and kissed her cheek. She got up as well, and headed to the elevator.

* * *

She fixed her dress after pressing the up button. Bruce came out from the bathroom beside the elevator and wrapped his arm around her tightly. "How was it?" She asked. They got in the elevator and pressed the floor button.

"It was all right. Don't really feel like talking about it." He said. She tried to continue the conversation, but his eyes drifted away from her, and he soon stood a few steps away from her.

"I guess you're tired."

"Nah, not really." He said.

"Someone's in a good mood-" She said sardonically. Bruce merely shrugged without saying a word, and brushed his hair back. "Or are you jealous?" She teased, but didn't show a smile.

"About what?" He said coolly and got out as the door opened.

"Marc. He was cute, and his debonair persona really got me into him. Oh, and-" Without even finishing her sentence, his lips landed on hers, and he aggressively pushed her against the white painted wall. His hands were busy touching every part of her, and he soon made some room, so she could wrap her arms around his neck.

"You drive me crazy, and I hope you know that." He pulled away and caressed her rosy cheeks. She smirked and fixed his bow tie.

"Do you want to carry me to the bedroom, ?" As soon as she was done fixing his tie, he picked her up and carried her to the room as she requested. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Bruce was glad that she didn't forget her room key, as he forgot his. He took off his jacket, and loosened the bow tie. He had been extremely patient with her; he didn't even bother taking advantage of her and avoided talking about hitting a home run. However, more than often, he couldn't stop imagine having sex with Victoria. He wondered how she'd look naked on top of him, what her favorite position was, and how tight she'd be. He wanted to make her scream his name, cum more than once, and mostly wanted to wake up beside her and give her morning kisses.

He was surprised to see his old _frenemy_ from Princeton. And, he was quite disturbed and jealous to see his girl talking to Marc Smith, who was a notorious flirt back in college. He opened the mini-bar and gulped down cold bottled water. He began to unbutton his crisp dress shirt and lied down on the futon. He glanced at the bedroom door. He took off his pants, and put on a pair of gray sweatpants from Roots. He knocked on the door once, and as there was no answer, he opened it slowly.

"Victoria?" He asked. He saw the black evening gown she wore tonight on the floor as well as the strapless bra. He looked around, and saw the light coming out from the bathroom. He stepped back and as he tried to close the door, the bathroom door opened.

"Hey, don't go." She said as she hid behind the door. Bruce nodded and took a seat on the couch by the bed. She smiled and came out in a beige, silk nightgown.

"Uh, I guess you're going to bed." He said.

"Not exactly-" She slowly undid the knot took off her gown, revealing a black, lacy push-up bra and a matching tiny thong. Her hair came down to her mid-back, and she straddled him. His mouth was slightly open, and he couldn't get his eyes off of her generous breasts. His hands rested on her waist, and their hungry lips met. It was going to be a long night for both of them.

* * *

**AN: PLEASE REVIEW. :)**


	23. Chapter 23

_**Disclaimer: **I own what's mine._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 23_

"Is my coffee here?" Rachel Dawes threw her trench coat and briefcase on her desk. She was never tardy for work, but today was an exception. She was an hour late. She had only slept for three hours last night, looking through the Salvatore Maroni case. She chugged liters of caffeine to stay awake. She was growing more and more frustrated with balancing her social/love life and work. As Rachel ran her fingers through her damp hair, her assistant brought her a cup of Starbucks and two Advil.

"You seem so tired, Rachel. I can arrange you a spa appointment for this afternoon." Tom, her assistant, said. Rachel took a sip and smirked.

"Let me guess: Grande latte, extra shot and foam. My favorite." He nodded and handed her a fluorescent yellow post-it note. "What is this?"

"Bruce Wayne called this morning. I asked him if it was urgent, but he said no. So, I asked him to leave a message pour toi, ma belle." Tom smiled

"Okay, enough with your French. He called. This morning." She gulped down her coffee and turned on her laptop.

"Oui…is that a problem?"

"What did he say?"

"He just wanted to know how you were doing. He totally likes you. I think that's it-"

"Okay, I'm going to call him NOW. Go and finish up the report for before you're off to lunch." She handed him the file.

"Sure, Rachel. Oh, can I get off work half an hour early today? I have a date with David." Tom winked, and she reluctantly nodded. Tom smiled like an obedient child, and headed off to his cubicle. Rachel dialed Bruce's number. She cleared her throat and waited for him to answer.

"Wayne." He said. Her heart almost sank when she heard his deep yet charming voice.

"Hi. Remember me?"

"Rachel? I called this morning-"

"Yeah, I know. You _called_." She said coolly. She took off her blazer and tied her hair.

"You sound different. Are you mad-"

"I called you two days ago, Bruce. Or was it three? I was worried."

"About what? I'm fine. I'm sorry I didn't call back so soon, I was busy." He shot back. "Anyway, how are you? Do you like your job?"

"Woah, two questions at once. First of all, besides suffering from temporary insomnia and stress disorder, I'm fine. My job's definitely demanding and time-consuming, of course, but I'm doing okay. I guess."

"You should take it easy, Rach. The plan has changed, so I think I'm going back tonight or so." He said. She rolled her eyes just thinking about him "working so hard" and "being so damn busy" in Vegas playing poker.

"Right. Well, I don't have a billion dollar trust fund like you do."

"What the hell is wrong with you? You don't sound like the Rachel I know." She frowned and put her cup down.

"With me? I'm perfectly fine, Bruce."

"No, you're not. You sound pessimistic, depressed, on the edge, and-"

"Are you sleeping with her?" She asked. She clearly knew that it was _her_ who left him behind for two years. She still had feelings for him, and she couldn't suppress them. He sighed on the phone.

"Who are you talking about-"

"That Victoria girl you're with right now." She asked out of pure frustration.

"No, I'm not." He lied. He glanced over at Victoria. She was done showering, and approached him with a small grin on her face. She adjusted and tightened her white towel wrapped around her, and sat on his lap.

"Liar. You sound different when you lie-"

"Rach, why do you even care? Anyway I have to go."

"Because I'm possibly your ONLY friend who actually cares about you." She said. Bruce rolled his eyes and sighed again.

"Listen, I'll see you when I get home. All right?" He hung up. She put the phone back and tried her best to hold back her tears. He wasn't her man anymore.

* * *

"Who was that on the phone?" Victoria asked. Bruce put the phone by the nightstand and held her tighter.

"My old friend, Rachel. She works with Harvey." He said.

"Oh, I see." Then, they remained silence for a moment. Her hair was still damp, and it was wetting his black shirt. He didn't mind though.

"Hey, about last night-" He paused. It almost felt like the awkward moment between two friends (well, in this case two colleagues) in the morning after having sex. To be honest, Bruce didn't really know what to do after carrying her to the bed and leaving several marks on her neck and around collar bone. Even though he was indeed, very experience in sex, she was too delicate for him. He had casual sex before with different partners, but it was different this time; it was something more than putting on clothes the next morning in thirty seconds and leaving without remembering the name. He had trouble undoing her bra (which, he still is embarrassed about), so she had to tell him that he had to undo the front, not the back. At first, he was very gentle with her, but eventually went faster and harder as she requested. Once wasn't enough for both of them, so another round was done shortly after. "I don't regret it." She smiled and rested her hand on his chest.

"I hope not. It was…amazing." She blushed, and tugged her towel tighter.

"I never knew you could ride like that." He teased and chuckled. She became redder and slapped his arm playfully.

"You should've seen your face when I was on top. You were so focused on my _certain_ body parts-" Without letting her finish her sentence, he rolled her over and settled himself on top of her. She giggled as his hand began to lift up her towel.

"Bruce! I'm not wearing anything underneath. And that goes for panties as well."

"Perfect timing." He chuckled. She sat up and held her towel tighter.

"I have to ask you something." She said. He stopped and nodded. "What are we, exactly? I mean, are we together, or-"

"Vic. I like you. A lot. You drive me crazy, and I can't imagine myself functioning without you." He said.

"You still haven't asked me out or anything. And, you're trying to get into my pants again, Mr. Wayne."

"I thought asking out was so…high school." He joked. She remained silent and watched him.

"Maybe you're not used to asking out a girl _properly_. I'm not into one night stands."

"What makes you think I'm into those instead of a stable relationship?" He asked. He knew that if he were to date here _properly_, he'd be jeopardizing his night-job, and she'd be in risk as well. When he was Batman at night, he made a promise to her that he'd be her watchful protector. Now, everything was about to turn upside down.

"Your reputation as a womanizer. And, the fact that…" She paused.

"The fact that…Go on." He said.

"You're very good at…sex." He laughed as soon as she was done talking, and pulled her closer. "Bruce, it's not funny. I'm serious."

"I know it's not. But, you know those are just rumors, right?" He asked. She gave him an ambivalent look and shrugged. "I thought you'd trust me. Those…hum, I kind of had to be involved with those promiscuous girls. It was Alfred's idea." He didn't lie this time, at least. Well, only partially.

"Alfred? He wanted you to hook up with bunch of slutty girls?" She seemed puzzled.

"Yep. He doesn't have good taste in women, you know." He felt guilty about not telling her the whole truth; the truth behind his pseudo billionaire playboy persona.

"Ohhkay. You still haven't asked me out." She bugged him. He grinned and cleared his throat.

"Victoria, would you be my girlfriend?" He said. She began to burst out laughing at his corny statement. She planted a kiss on his cheek and nodded.

"Yes, I'd love to. Except for from 9AM to 5PM, Monday through Friday."

"What?"

"I can't be your girlfriend while we're at work, Bruce. It won't be appropriate."

"But-"

"It's not going to be that difficult." She asserted.

"So, does it mean that I can make out with someone during that time?" He joked.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Really? Wow, okay-"

"Of course not, you idiot!" She shot back. She pushed him to the bed and pulled his belt buckle closer to her. "I need a dedicated man who can love me." She said. He nodded and hugged her gently.

"I'm right here for you. And I'll always be."

* * *

**AN: This was a quick update! PLEASE REVIEW! :))**

**And thanks for 150+ subscribers! This means a lot to me :)**

**Jaime**


	24. Chapter 24

_Disclaimer: I own what's mine._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 24_

Harvey continued to fidget as he waited impatiently for her at the airport. He didn't tell Victoria that he was going to be at the airport to greet her and take her home. It was a surprise, and he was hoping for the moment where she'd run into his arms. He leaned against a granite pillar by the exit area, with a bouquet of white lilies with a small sign saying, "Welcome Home!" He glanced at his watch again, and sighed. It was already half past three, and the flight supposedly landed over twenty minutes ago. To his right, there was a few men in worn out jeans and t-shirts with Canon and Nikon paparazzi cameras. Harvey rolled his eyes as he thought of that _prick_. To be honest, Harvey was never fond of the billionaire. He never understood Bruce's sense of humor (he referred to it as 'dreadful satire'), excessive splurges, and of course his affluent lifestyle. He took out his Blackberry and sent a message to Rachel saying that he'd like the report on Maroni on his desk by tomorrow morning, and that they have to attend a meeting with Commissioner Gordon about the unsolved kidnapping case.

"Hey, there he is!" One of the paparazzi bellowed and pointed at the exit door. He began to shoot and the bright flashes clicked. Harvey took bigger steps towards where the guy had pointed at and saw his old friend. Her hair was down as usual, and it was more wavy that usual. It was almost like that 'I-Just-Had-Wild-Sex' look he saw in one of those gossip magazines. Harvey tried to wave, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Victoria!" He waved again, and yelled out her name. She turned around and smiled. She turned around at Bruce, and handed her suitcase as she told him that she'd be back soon.

"Oh my God, Harvey! I didn't know you were coming." She gave him a long embrace, and kissed his flawlessly shaved cheek. He handed her the bouquet of her favorite lilies, and shrugged.

"Surprise, I guess." He smirked.

"Oh, I love them! You know, you're the best." She smelled the lilies and looked back at Bruce. He was surrounded by the paparazzi, and carried the suitcases to them soon enough.

"I never knew you were showing up." Brue said bitterly as he wrapped his arm around her waist. She looked back at him and showed him the flowers Harvey got her.

"I didn't know I had to report whether I was going to or not to _you_." Harvey shot back and continued. "I was going to drive her back to her place so she can pack her stuff."

"Wait, what?" She asked.

"Vic, we don't know what's going to happen to you nor when. You've been marked as the Joker's next target, as you may know already. I'd feel much safe if you...um stay over at my place under my protection."

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier? Harv, this is so last minute and-"

"That won't be necessary. She can stay over at my penthouse, which is also the safest place in Gotham. And of course, safer than your apartment on the Upper West Side. You can trust me with that." Bruce said and puller her closer to him. Similar to the social and territorial hierarchy in Manhattan, there were certain norms and tenets in Gotham. Upper West and East Sides were the elitist neighborhoods in the city. West Side was more family oriented with abundant number of day cares and primary schools. East Side, on the other hand, was the hallmark of shops, restaurants, and social events. Bruce's penthouse was located on the East Side, which obviously was a better choice after all.

"Right. Well, I'm still obliged to drive her back according to Commissioner Gordon. Also, I doubt that your fortress won't be protective as my place because there would be sentinels to watch over." He brushed his hair slightly with his fingertips. She was stuck between these ego-centric men, an finally decided to go with what's best for her.

"I say you go with Harvey and come over to my place after." Bruce glanced at Harvey for a moment and turned towards her. She nodded and obeyed.

"My car's over there." Harvey pointed to the South Wing of the airport and took her suitcase from Bruce's hand. Both of them forced a smile, and Harvey started to walk towards the exit. When he looked back, he saw them kiss, rather passionately, for a while. He had no idea that they were romantically involved. When he had called her earlier, she just said that there was "nothing" between them. He tried to calm down, but couldn't stop feeling that he had lost one very important element of his life: love.

* * *

"Aren't you going to ask me how my trip was?" She broke the dreadfully silent ride. Harvey had both of his damp palms on the steering wheel, and shrugged. "Ohhkay, you're so quiet. What's wrong with you?"

"With me? Nothing, Victoria. What the hell is wrong with you?" He bellowed. She didn't expect such reaction from Harvey. She had never seen him yell like that since when he got into a fight with Sabrina at the end of his senior thesis presentation back when he was still an undergrad.

"Excuse me? Why are you yelling-"

"Because you had your hands all over that jerk!" He exploded. The car stopped at the red light and the silence remained.

"You're mad because I was kissing Bruce? I'm sorry I didn't report my love life to you as soon as I landed, Harvey." She said sardonically and placed her hand over his. "I thought you'd understand because you're my best friend."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled...I just...Gosh, I don't know what happened." He gained back his temper and continued to drive. It was silent again.

"I missed you." She said timidly and put her hand on top of his. His tense jaws began to loosen up and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Likewise. How was the trip?" He finally asked.

"It was good…I didn't gamble or anything. Just worked on the reports I had to do from the week before and that was about it."

"What reports?"

"Um…you know. Setting up the schedule for this upcoming week." She lied. She hated lying to Harvey's face, but she had no choice but to keep her full-on romantic getaway a secret.

"You know, that does sound boring." He pulled off in front of her apartment and unbuckled his seat belt. "We're here now. Ready?"

"Yes, let me just put my jacket on." She continued. "And Harvey-"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Thank you." She said sincerely. He nodded and opened the door.

"I'll always be here for you. And you know that."

She sensed that he was forcing a smile, and she knew that she didn't have an answer for him.

* * *

**AN: I know. I know. I haven't updated...for a very, very long time! I've been busy with school and college apps mostly...Oh and please check out my new fic, "RACHEL GETTING MARRIED?" **

**I think you're going to like it :)**

**Please subscribe and REVIEW! REVIEWS MAKE MY DAY!**

**Hugs,**

**Jaime**


	25. Chapter 25

_Disclaimer: I own what's mine._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 25_

"Master Wayne. Good to see you." Alfred greeted him as he entered pulling his Daks suitcase. He took off his sunglasses and put on a cordial yet exhausted smile.

"Hello, Alfred." He kept his answer short and headed to his master bedroom. Moving into the city when the manor burnt down was quite an adjustment for both of them, as they needed to find somewhere secure for the Tumbler and all the gadgets related to Bruce's nightlife. His bedroom was more spacious, though; it had a king-size bed, couches, coffee tables, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom which was bigger than his college dorm room.

"Quite a trip, I guess. Did you enjoy the conference? And did you use the bluffing trick I've taught you before?" Alfred offered him a hand and carried the suitcase for Bruce.

"It was great. And yes, I tried but people seemed to notice that I didn't have a good hand. Thanks for asking." He took off his jacket and tossed it onto his bed. "Alfred, would you be able to have a guest bedroom ready? Let's say…in about an hour?"

"Of course, sir. I'll have the one beside your room ready. May I ask why?"

Bruce took off his sneakers and put them beside the coffee table. "Victoria's staying over for a while. The Joker's planning something...some sort of abduction. Harvey insisted on taking her over to his place, but I prevailed." A faint smirk of triumph lit his face.

"Ah, I see. By the way, there's someone waiting for you in the living room. Hurry because she's running out of time and patience." Bruce nodded and followed his butler obediently. He could only think of one person waiting for him.

* * *

Victoria absolutely detested packing. Now, she had to unpack and pack again for her sleep-over to billionaire's penthouse. Harvey carried the suitcase and left it by the kitchen counter. As she took off her jacket, she pressed her answering machine button and found out that there were seven messages from Kayla. _'Great,'_ she thought, and deleted all of them as she suspected them to be related to her getaway.

"Hey, if you need any help…just ask me." Harvey said and continued. "You never really liked to pack."

"Yeah, that would be great. Could you just…ah get my shirts and pants? I need to iron some of my skirts for work." Then, she headed to her walk-in closet and grabbed three different skirts. They all looked the same to Harvey, but only in different colors. Before he graduated cum laude from Gotham University and decided to go to Columbia, he often found solace in her. He helped her with her major papers in history, data management, and sociology. As time passed by, he felt more distant from her and felt nearly vulnerable without her.

"Where are your shirts? This drawer?" He pointed at the top drawer.

"What? It should be around." He guessed that she didn't hear him since she put on the Rolling Stone's Jumpin' Jack Flash on to the maximum. When he opened the top drawer, there were her delicates. Most of them were lace, but he spotted some of her cotton panties as well. He reluctantly closed it and searched for her clothes.

"Hey, Vic-" He bellowed. She turned around and returned to her bedroom with three of her ironed skirts and dress shirts.

"Yea?" She asked.

"Is he treating you well?" He asked. She put on one of those 'I-Don't-Know-What-You're-Talking-About' faces and gently put her clothes in her suitcase.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Don't play that game with me. I mean Wayne."

"Oh…yes, he's very sweet." She said and avoided his long gaze. Then, she broke the silence. "Why are you so worried about who I'm seeing?" She took her t-shirts and pants from him and stuffed them in her suitcase.

"I'm not. I'm just _concerned_. As your friend, of course." He lied.

"He's nothing like _that_."

"Like what? A prick? A womanizer? A drunk slob-"

"Enough! He's caring and smart ." She closed her suitcase shut.

"Smart? He only got into Princeton because he's filthy rich."

"On top of that, he was a recruited athlete. He used to row." She said defensively and her voice got louder.

"Oh yeah? Let's see how long that lasts." He sounded sardonic and grabbed his jacket and headed to the door.

"You don't mean that." She kept her composure followed him.

"You keep on telling yourself that. He's just _using_ you-"

"Harvey! How can you say something like that? He cares about me just as much or even more than you do. I hope you didn't mean every word." She zipped her suitcase and walked past him to the elevator.

"Hey, Vic-" she turned around slowly as she sensed his tone soften.

"What." She pressed the button and looked at her best friend.

"If you go now…I won't be there for you if he leaves. Just want you to know that."

* * *

After many missed phone calls and text messages from Rachel, it wasn't too surprising to see Rachel sitting on the couch in his living room. She was going through an ivory folder and was too busy writing notes with her red pen. He couldn't resist throwing a friendly smile at his one and only best friend.

"I wasn't expecting you." He said even though he did expect her to visit as soon as he got back from Las Vegas. She closed her folder and got up.

"Surprise, I guess." She stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He inhaled her rosemary scent and responded to her embrace. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. How was Georgetown?" He asked. He was still bitter about her absence and sudden disappearance, but there was only one Rachel in his life; someone comforting and reliable.

"It was…different. It was more like working at a castle." He chuckled.

"I'm glad you enjoyed your time off."

"Yeah, it was a good idea to leave the city for a while. You know, after Karl died." She brushed her sleek hair with her fingers.

"Right. Are you back for good now?"

"I think so. I'm working with Harvey Dent now." Bruce smirked as she mentioned his sworn enemy's name.

"Oh, Dent. How is he?"

"He's fine, I guess. A complete workaholic. And very private, also." She feigned a smile and caressed his cheek. "Why don't you come over to my place for dinner or a glass of wine?" She almost whispered.

"Nah, I shouldn't." He pulled away and stuffed his hands in his jean pockets.

"Why? Is your girlfriend visiting? Does she know about your secret nightlife, Bruce?" She said condescendingly. He furrowed his brows and let out an empty laugh.

"She's staying over, yes."

"Would I get to meet her?" She teased.

"Perhaps. I should ask her first-"

"Bruce." She put both her palms on his cleanly shaven cheeks and took one more step closer. "What happened to the day when you said that we'd be together? When you were done with all this."

"Rachel, I-"

"Am I interrupting something?" Both Rachel and Bruce turned around and saw Victoria standing alone with her suitcase and a beige trench coat. Both of them cleared their throats and greeted her. "Sorry, I should've waited until you were finished."

"No, no. Victoria, I'd like you to meet my friend, Rachel. Rachel, this is Victoria."

"Hi, nice to meet you." Victoria offered a hand and shook it firmly. Rachel responded and she could sense her fake smile.

"Likewise." She kept her response short. "Oh, and I was just wondering if I could steal your boyfriend for a few hours tonight. Would that be okay?" She exchanged looks with both of them.

"Rachel, we're both exhausted, and-"

"What, Bruce. You said you'd have to ask your lovely Victoria if you could come over for dinner." She paused and looked back at Victoria. "Would that be all right? Just a few hours. I'll send him back." She gave another crooked smile.

"Sure. I think you should have dinner with your friend. I'll be fine." She pretended to be indifferent about Bruce hanging out with one of his many female friends and acquaintances, but she couldn't help but wonder if they were _that_ close.

"Great! I guess I'll see you later. Come on, Bruce." She took his arm and grabbed her briefcase within a second.

"Hey, wait." He turned back at Victoria and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You sure you're gonna be okay without me?" He asked.

"I'm a big girl, I can handle it." She assured him and rubbed his arms gently. "By the way, your friend is giving me an evil look right now, so you should go now." She gave him a peck on his cheek and walked away. Waiting for him to come back would be one of the longest hours of her life.

* * *

**AN: Super late upload? I think so! In return, PLEASE PLEASE...ENJOY! :) Oh, and don't forget to review...they're like my energy and encourage me to write everyday! :D**

**PLEASE REVIEW AND SUBSCRIBE!**

**Warmly,**

**Jaime**


	26. Chapter 26

_Disclaimer: I own what's mine._

* * *

**Breathe Slow**

_Chapter. 26_

Bruce never came back to the penthouse last night. She waited up until one in the morning, well pretty much until she passed out from exhaustion and anxiety. She got up with bags under her hazel eyes and her hair messier than usual. She quickly showered, put on a salmon pink knee-length dress, dabbed on some Calvin Klein, and hailed a cab to work. As soon as she arrived, she grabbed her mug and poured some house blend down her scorching coffee, and pretended to be occupied. She organized her folders, double-checked her schedule, and even wiped her computer monitor. She still couldn't stop thinking about where Bruce had been all night. Was he with Rachel? Did he get mugged and possibly murdered? Did he fall asleep in his car?

She stopped questioning and decided to dial Kayla's number. What are best friends for, right? Even though Kayla constantly demanded to know about Vic's sex life, she needed to find solace in someone. After ringing for a few seconds, Kayla picked up.

"Hi stranger." she answered.

"Hey. I'm sorry I haven't called. I was tired."

"R-ight." Kayla said sardonically. "What's wrong. Something's wrong."

"Bruce never came home last night." she said quietly.

"Okay. Maybe he's cheating on you with some bimbo." She paused. "Or, he got really drunk and fell asleep at a hotel or something. Doesn't he own the one on theWest End Avenue?"

"Yes. No. Maybe. He went over to his friend's place for dinner."

"Without you? Well, he was probably with his college friends or something. Guys do that sometimes. They get together, eat junk, watch porn and drink till pass out."

"Well, he was with _Rachel_." She drank some more coffee and winced as its bitterness dominated her mouth.

"Rachel? Who's Rachel?"

"His friend. And no, they're _just_ friends."

"Right. They're _just_ friends. Just like how you and Bruce were _just_ colleagues."

"Kayla, it's different. Clearly."

"Is she pretty?"

"Yeah. And she has long legs, perfectly skinny, and smart. I mean, smart as in 'I-went-to-Harvard' smart." Kayla chuckled and cleared her throat.

"Have they dated? Or have feelings for each other?"

"I have no clue. He never told me anything about Rachel before, so I don't know."

"Vic, I'm sure everything's fine. He probably stayed somewhere else for the night. How is he anyway?"

"Who?" Vic said even though she knew who Kayla was dying to hear about.

"Bruce! Have you guys had any kinky office sex? Or wet pool sex like I recommended?"

"Um, he's fine. And no. We _just_ started dating."

"Interesting...But you already slept with him. You whore."

"No I didn't." she lied and tried to conceal her emerging smile.

"Yes you did. I know you, Victoria. You sound different."

"I have a sore throat." she cleared her throat again and got up to refill her mug.

"From all that screaming I bet." Kayla chuckled and paused. "So you plan on getting busy with him while working there, missy?" she teased.

"Maybe. But that's none of your business-"

"Hey! You're harsh! I tell you literally EVERYTHING."

"Yes, but some of your stories are very gratuitous and-" as she turned her head to the left, she saw Bruce looking sharp with his hair slicked back as usual and wearing his suit. She hung up immediately and feigned a smile.

"Morning."

"Morning. Anything on the agenda for today? I know there's something with , but other than that, am I booked?" he approached her with a signature smirk on his face she wanted to rub off. She kept her posture and took out the schedule.

"Mr. Rodgers would like you see you briefly any time of the day. That's all."

"Great. Thanks." He nodded and made his way to his office without looking back. Honestly, he was too exhausted from last night.

* * *

Bruce closed the door shut behind him and inhaled the smell of crisp ivory carpet and recycled coffee beans. He undid the top button and loosened his tie. After talking for hours with Rachel (which was nice and friendly) and having a few glasses of pinot noir, he kissed her goodbye on the cheek and left for his patrol duty. Thankfully, the city was more peaceful than usual and Batman didn't run into too much trouble. Just a few teenage smokers and lousy prostitutes in the narrows. He stretched out his arms and tried to think of a legitimate and plausible excuse for his absence last night. The best one he came up with was that he fell asleep on Rachel's couch. Then, he thought that might complicate things if Victoria decides to ask her whether her boyfriend really fell asleep on her couch. And he knew that girls do talk. As he was still contemplating, there was a knock on the door. As he said come in, Victoria walked in with a cup full of lukewarm coffee.

"I thought you needed some coffee." As she handed him the cup, he pulled her in close and hugged her lightly. She didn't move for a minute and eventually pulled away.

"I missed you. I'm sorry I didn't come home last night." He ran his fingers through her sleek hair and took a small sip of coffee.

"I bet you have a long night. Where were you?"

"Uh...I had dinner. As you know." he paused. "And then I went spelunking."

"Spelunking. Why would you go cave climbing in the middle of the night?"

"Uh...I needed some exercise. You know, getting my adrenaline pumping."

"Oh-kay, workout junkie. Definitely a weird excuse-"

"It's not. I got so tired after that, so I fell asleep at the cave by the manor." he shrugged and kept his grin on his face.

"Right. Well, I hope you are happy that you got your adrenaline pumped, Mr. Wayne-" Before she could finish, his rough lips landed on hers and his hand traveled down to her butt.

"I did fall asleep in the cave." Both of them laughed, and she pulled away once again.

"Fine. You fell asleep in the cave. Or whatever. Now I have to get back to work-"

"No, you don't. How about a half an hour break?" Then he slammed the door shut with an inevitable grin.

* * *

**AN: Here ya go! Another update :) I finish school in a month and I can't wait to go to college! I'm heading off to Yale in the fall and I hope I get to update as much as possible before school begins. **

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW AND SUBSCRIBE!

Love and peace,

Jaime**  
**


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